Christie’s Goes All-In on Crypto Real Estate

Okay, so Christie’s, the famous auction house, is making a pretty big move into the world of crypto and real estate. They’ve just launched a whole new division specifically dedicated to helping people buy and sell properties using cryptocurrency.

Yep, you read that right. You could potentially buy a multi-million dollar mansion with Bitcoin, and Christie’s wants to be the company that helps make it happen.

This specialized team of experts is based in Los Angeles, and they’re going to focus exclusively on real estate deals involving cryptocurrency.

According to The New York Times, Christie’s International Real Estate in LA now has a team of crypto experts, lawyers, and analysts ready to handle transactions where both the seller and buyer want to use cryptocurrency without getting traditional banks involved.

Aaron Kirman, who’s the CEO of Christie’s International Real Estate, said they started this service after seeing some major real estate sales happen with cryptocurrency. He mentioned the sale of a Beverly Hills home called Elementi for a cool $65 million in Bitcoin (BTC) as one example.

While it’s still not super common, buying real estate with cryptocurrency is becoming more popular, especially among wealthy folks who want to stay anonymous, according to Kirman. He mentioned that he’s already closed deals where the seller didn’t even know who the buyer was. Of course, the seller’s lawyers did their due diligence and contacted the buyer’s representatives to make sure the funds were legit.

Kirman also said that they currently have a portfolio of properties worth over $1 billion whose sellers are willing to accept cryptocurrency.

One of those properties is La Fin, a Los Angeles mansion listed for a whopping $118 million! Kirman pointed out that it’s the most expensive property currently listed for sale in cryptocurrency.

You could also use digital currencies to buy the Nightingale house in Beverly Hills for $63 million. And then there’s the Invisible House, which is this super unique, minimalist mansion with a mirrored facade that makes it look like it’s disappearing into the desert.

Looking ahead, Kirman mentioned that he’s talking to several major banks about accepting cryptocurrency as payment for homes. He’s even estimating that within five years, cryptocurrency transactions could make up over a third of all residential real estate deals in the United States. That’s a pretty bold prediction!

Christie’s has been involved with cryptocurrency for a while now. They’ve held auctions for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and even launched their own NFT marketplace on the Ethereum blockchain back in 2022. So, this move into crypto real estate seems like a natural progression for them.