It seems that Malta continues to steal the headlines for innovative projects in the blockchain space with the most recent offering being a huge palazzo in the heart of Valletta being offered for sale with a $3 million price tag.
The mansion can only be purchased in Bitcoin, with the property going on sale for 550 BTC.
The 860 square-meter historic building in the heart of the Mediterranean island’s vibrant capital of Valletta also comes with permission to be transformed into a hotel or even office space. Valletta is undergoing a complete transformation lately with tens of previously abandoned mansions and palazzos being converted into high end boutique hotels catering for the upcoming nouveau riche.
Uniquely, the imposing building comes with a three million euro price tag but can only be purchased in Bitcoin, giving its investor the opportunity to claim the title of making the first cryptocurrency property purchase on ‘Blockchain Island’.
The ubiquitous John MacAfee who has also confirmed his participation at the Malta Blockchain Summit which is taking place in November has also been tweeting about the palazzo sale in Bitcoin.
Maltese Mansion goes on sale for BTC in advance of Malta conference.https://t.co/8uzPtHTRfu
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) September 4, 2018
According to Ian Fitzpatrick who owns the property, there are a number of high net worth individuals who are looking at Malta as a place to invest their crypto wealth. This property could be the first of many coming on the market in cryptocurrency.
Fitzpatrick was quoted as stating that the palazzo is more than four centuries old and has the potential to be developed into a boutique hotel which is becoming all the rage in Malta’s capital city.
The sale is part of an initiative called CryptoHomes.io which, according to a statement on its official website, seeks to make more real estate listings available through crypto following the conclusion of the first crypto real estate investment in Malta.
CryptoHomes has partnered with Cubits – a widely-trusted and well-established multi-currency wallet. One of CryptoHomes’ initiators – Dennis Avorin – said the move was a big step in proving cryptocurrency has a future in purchasing assets in the same way as regular cash.
He stated:
“Crypto is here to stay and we want to showcase that cryptocurrencies are not only commodities for speculators but also a means to purchase solid assets. Purchasing real estate with crypto is like purchasing real estate with fiat – the same due diligence and rules apply. We simply want to promote the use of crypto as a vehicle for solid investments and Malta is a great start with the incredibly strong real estate market that we have seen in the past few years”.
In order to deliver full ‘know your customer’ (KYC) knowledge and due diligence, CryptoHomes has also partnered with KnowMeNow – a blockchain based KYC solution.
Other real estate companies such as Remax Malta are also advertising the possibility of buying property with cryptocurrency but so far there have been no listings yet. Montenegro was the first country to complete an apartment sale with Bitcoin although this was apparently immediately converted to fiat currency once the purchase was completed.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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