An apartment in Braga, Portugal was sold for 3 BTC on Thursday in the first-ever real estate sale directly and entirely made in bitcoin, local news outlet Idealista reported.
The feat was possible thanks to new rules that became effective last month setting the directives as to how owners and real estate agents could sell properties for cryptocurrency directly. 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 do the transaction and receive the house deed.
“This deed represents a historic milestone, the transfer of a digital asset to a physical asset – a house – without any conversions to euros,” said real estate company Zome, according to the report, which participated in the sale in conjunction with a group of lawyers and other partners.
The sale of real estate for bitcoin has recently gathered popularity across different parts of the world.
In November, Latin American property technology (proptech) market leader La Haus announced it would start accepting BTC as payment for homes on-chain and on Lightning through an integration with Bitcoin payment processor OpenNode.
La Haus sold its first property for bitcoin two months later as it bridged the purchase of an apartment in Mexico for 5.78 BTC. The company sold yet another property for bitcoin in the following month, the first in Colombia.
In late April, Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based luxury real estate developer DAMAC Properties said it would soon begin accepting Bitcoin payments for the sale of real estate in the region. The move represented the latest major push in the UAE to establish itself as a welcoming region for the fostering of cryptocurrency businesses and services.
Portugal is also joining the competition among nations that seek to invite Bitcoin companies and enthusiasts to foment its economy. In addition to the latest rules enabling direct bitcoin purchases of real estate, the country is known for exempting cryptocurrency investors from capital gains taxes.