Photo Credit To Sean Ronkoske Via Flickr
According to Yahoo, BitPay recently announced a partnership with a luxury condo complex that is located in Orlando, Florida. The partnership will entail BitPay providing Bitcoin payments processing services for those that buy real estate. The deal was announced on August 6 and it involves the Grove Resort. The complex will accept BTC as payment for the 878 condos they have built. This is just one of the many deals BitPay has struck in the real estate industry. We recently talked about all the potential opportunities for Real Estate to benefit through Blockchain technology. This recent development from BitPay is a pure example why Crypto and Blockchain could alter the way we do real estate transactions in the future.
Moves in the Real Estate Sector
In 2017, BitPay processed about $20 million for the real estate sector. However, when the bear run hit the crypto world in 2018, the figure fell to about $6 million according to Sonny Singh, the chief commercial officer at the company. In Q1 and Q2 of this year, the company says it has processed over $5 million for the real estate industry. Singh predicted the company would probably double the amount it processed in 2018 by the end of this year.
BitPay is the largest Bitcoin payments processor in the world. Each year, it handles volumes of about $1 billion. It is also a major processor for homebuyers who wish to buy a property with crypto. The company changes funds into USD and then sends these funds to an escrow account for the buyer.
According to Singh, the company processed its first crypto transaction for the real estate industry through Piper Moretti, a real estate firm based in California around 2015. Since then, it has processed millions worth of BTC transactions. According to the official, 2019 could be yet its best year in the real estate market. Singh also said that on average, each property they are involved with is worth about $1 million.
Relationships with Major Real Estate Players
BitPay has already established long-term relationships with various real estate agents and developers. This includes well-known names such as JetRE and Magnum Real Estate, which are involved in the Manhattan property scene. Besides that, it has also processed transactions in some of the top property markets such as Dubai. Most of the company’s real estate transactions were outside the US, about 79 percent. Despite this, the dollar value of property transactions in the US represented 34 percent of the company’s real estate dealings.
The Grove Resort Condominiums
The Grove Resort condos costs between $330,000 and $595,000. These properties are in a prime location; just a five minutes’ drive from Disney World. According to the director of the resort, they have seen growing interest from clients in Brazil, Turkey, and China who want to buy using crypto.
When they saw this, they decided to contact BitPay due to their great reputation globally. Besides that, the fact that they had already been operating in the real estate sector helped to influence their decision. BitPay’s fees are quite low. For each transaction, the company only takes one percent and the transaction is completed in seconds. This is quite different from banks that charge 5 percent for each wire transfer and a transaction may take days to complete.
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