A Russian real estate company is testing the market by selling a luxury property for Bitcoin. Will we see the same in Asia anytime soon?
The Russian real estate firm Kalinka Group (Russian) has announced that its client is selling his luxury home for bitcoins.
The vendor appointed the real estate company to sell his mansion for in the region of $8 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC).
Crypto Creep
In typical estate agent waffle (no matter the language) the 4200 square foot country mansion is located in the village of Nikolino, situated in a fashionable neighborhood off the Rublevo-Upenskoe highway, sounds delightful.
According to the agent, this is the first time in the history of the Russian real estate market that a client has offered to sell a property for cryptocurrencies.
«Such transactions are still a novelty, even for world real estate markets,» said Ekaterina Rumyantseva, the chairman of the board of Kalinka Group.
No Precedent For Sale
But Russian legislation, as elsewhere, has not yet defined the rules for working with bitcoins, and so far there is no legal definition of the cryptocurrency.
Also, as there is no regulatory or legal framework governing the sale, the agency's service fees will still be paid in the national currency, rather than in bitcoin.
The legal department of the estate agent is currently investigating whether the sale of a property for cryptocurrencies is legal, according to the laws of Russia.
Why Not
Clever conveyancing lawyers or other legal or trust specialists,especially in Singapore or Hong Kong, will surely be able to structure a deal, maybe a barter, that would allow BTC to be used as the payment.
However, if cryptocurrencies are considered cash in Russia, according to the law on foreign exchange operations, a transaction in BTC would be impossible since the only currency permitted in the sale of Russian real estate is the Russian ruble.
Wealthy Asian real estate investors are sure to be interested in the novelty value of the potential trade as a way of quickly accumulating a chunk of BTC.
At the time of the announcement, the house was listed for 3000 BTC.
