Earlier this week, thanks to recent changes in real estate law, someone reportedly managed to buy an apartment in Portugal for three bitcoins, without having to first convert to euros.
According to a report (published on May 8) by Lubomir Tassev for Bitcoin News, a two-bedroom apartment in Braga (which is “a city and a municipality capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province”) was purchased directly with crypto in a deal described by local media as the first such real transaction in Portugal.
Apparently, the buyer paid 3 BTC (worth around 110K euros at the time of purchase), and the title deed for the property was transferred in Póvoa de Varzim, district of Porto, on Thursday (May 5) per a report by news portal Idealista.
This real estate deal took place with the help of real estate agency Zome, law firm Antas da Cunha Ecija & Associados, the Chairman of the Portuguese Chamber of Notaries, and partners based in Zug, Switzerland.
In a post on Facebook, Zome had this to say about the deal:
“History has been made in the real estate market! The first Public Deed for the sale of a house with cryptocurrency in Europe was carried out today with the participation of ZOME, together with the law firm Antas da Cunha ECIJA, the Bastonário dos Notaries in Portugal and other partners of Crypto Valey, in Switzerland.
“Carlos Santos (Chief Technology Officer at Zome), Nuno da Silva Vieira (partner at Antas da Cunha ECIJA responsible for Legal Intelligence), Jorge Silva (Bastonary of Notaries in Portugal) and Paulo Cardoso do Amaral (Professor at the Catholic University of Lisbon ), witnessed firsthand this unique event!
“This deed represents a historic milestone, the transfer of a digital asset to a physical asset – a house – without any conversion to euros. We believe that a new world of possible business in the real estate sector is opening up today! Once again we are at the forefront of the web 3.0 world, and we have other projects in development that will be presented very soon!“
According to the Idealista report, Carlos Santos, chief technology officer at Zome, said in a statement sent to the press:
“The future of mediation will pass through crypto assets, so we believe that this transaction will start a whole new world of possible business.“
And Nuno da Silva Vieira, lawyer and partner responsible for the Legal Intelligence practice area of Antas da Cunha ECIJA, added:
“This type of business will have an exponential increase and Portugal is showing very promising signs in terms of the digital economy, so we believe that this operation can be a great opportunity for growth and value creation.“
The Idealista report pointed out experts contacted by CNN Portugal said that to do such real estate deals in Portugal, you have to follow certain rules and procedures, e.g. show the source of funds used to acquire the crypto used for the purchase. Furthermore, if the value of the transaction exceeds 200,000 euros, “the operation would have to be communicated to the authorities and it would still be necessary to compare the value of the cryptocurrencies on the date of the promissory contract and its value on the date of the deed.”
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.
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