An apartment in Braga, Portugal, was sold Thursday for 3 BTC in the first property sale made directly and entirely in Bitcoin, local news outlet idealist reported.
The feat was possible thanks to new rules that went into effect last month that set out guidelines for how owners and real estate agents can sell properties directly for cryptocurrency. Before the rules, someone buying a house with bitcoin in Portugal had to first convert it to euros at the time of purchase in order to complete the transaction and get the house deed.
“This deed represents a historic milestone, the transfer of a digital asset into a physical asset — a house — with no conversions to euros,” said real estate firm Zome, which participated in the sale along with a group of lawyers and others, according to the report partners.
Selling property for bitcoin has recently gained popularity in different parts of the world.
In November, Latin American real estate technology leader (Proptech), La Haus, announced it would accept BTC as payment for houses on-chain and on Lightning through an integration with Bitcoin payment processor OpenNode.
La Haus sold its first property for bitcoin two months later when it bridged the purchase of an apartment in Mexico for 5.78 BTC. The company sold another property for bitcoin the following month, its first in Colombia.
In late April, Dubai, UAE-based luxury real estate developer DAMAC Properties announced that it would soon start accepting Bitcoin payments for the sale of properties in the region. The move was the latest major push in the UAE to establish itself as a welcoming region for the promotion of cryptocurrency businesses and services.
Portugal is also joining the competition among nations trying to invite Bitcoin companies and enthusiasts to boost their economies. In addition to the latest rules allowing direct bitcoin purchases of real estate, the country is known for exempting cryptocurrency investors from capital gains taxes.
