A four-bedroom house in Essex is about to become the the first in the UK to be sold for Bitcoin.
Construction on the family home in Colchester should be finished by early 2018, developers say, and the property will be sold next week for however much £350,000 in sterling is trading for on the day.
The house is the first new build in the world to be traded for Bitcoin rather than cash.
Developers Go Homes are also preparing a second Bitcoin sale in the next few weeks, as a fellow ‘Bitcoin miner’ swaps his virtual wealth for a £595,000 townhouse.
Construction on the family home in Colchester, Essex, should be finished by early 2018, developers say
However, the historic sale comes as financial experts warned yesterday that the Bitcoin bubble may be about to burst with investors facing massive losses.
The unnamed buyer of the Colchester home is understood to be a so-called ‘Bitcoin miner’ who made an early killing on the crypto-currency and is now converting it into bricks and mortar.
The price is set at £350,000 in regular currency but the payment will be made at the prevailing Bitcoin exchange rate on the day.
The detached home is one of 32 being built at Elmstead Green, Colchester, around a newly-developed village green.
The unnamed buyer of the home is understood to be a so-called ‘Bitcoin miner’ who made an early killing on the crypto-currency
New rules were agreed by EU states on Friday to stop Bitcoin and other virtual currencies being used to finance terrorism and for money laundering
Lawyers were involved in complex negotiations to draw up a contract for the payment, with no deposit and a price fixed to avoid wild fluctuations in the Bitcoin exchange rate.
The current exchange rate is £14,017 in sterling for one bitcoin but it can vary enormously.
Ed Casson, group sales director of Go Homes, said: ‘This re-writes the rule book. And shows there is another way to sell property.
‘Globally this is the first time a domestic property has been sold for Bitcoin. It’s a bit of history in the making.
‘Selling homes for Bitcoin will become common in the next five years. Our industry has largely remained unchanged in terms of innovation in the last 50 years. We are taking an opportunity to embrace this technology.’
Lawyers were involved in complex negotiations to draw up a contract to avoid wild fluctuations in the Bitcoin exchange rate
The price is set at £350,000 in regular currency but the payment will be made at the prevailing Bitcoin exchange rate on the day
‘Because the Bitcoin is so volatile purchasers buy a property outright, with no deposit. They exchange and complete at the same time.’
Entrepreneur Daniel Roy has also floated the idea, saying he would accept the virtual currency for his £1.65m three-bed townhouse in Peckham, south-east London.
Solicitor Adrian Toulson said: ‘Deals have been done in Bitcoin, but we can’t find any evidence of one for a residential property anywhere.
‘We have designed a contract to protect both the buyer and seller from fluctuations in the exchange rate.’
The detached home is one of 32 being built at Elmstead Green, Colchester, around a newly-developed village green
The current exchange rate is £14,017 in sterling for one Bitcoin but it can vary enormously