A swanky £17 million London mansion could be yours for 5,050 bitcoins.
Property investment firm London Wall is selling its six-story stucco-fronted mansion near Portobello Road in Notting Hill, London, England for £17 million. The catch is that the company’s owners will only accept the digital currency Bitcoin as a form of payment, The Standard reports:
According to London Wall co-founder Lev Loginov, their aim in accepting only Bitcoin as payment is to pioneer Bitcoin transactions in Great Britain.
“We want to shift all the perceptions on cryptocurrency. We think in future it is going to eliminate the need for solicitors and property title and is really going to change how real estate transactions are conducted. We would like to be the first company to transact in Bitcoin. It can be done quicker, more efficiently and it is much easier to deal with than using banks, which are putting in unnecessary over-regulation.”
At the current exchange rate for Bitcoin, the price equivalent of the mansion is around 5,050 Bitcoins.
Possible issues and other details
According to Loginov, there will be issues that they need to resolve in consummating a sale, such as the question of how to pay commission to the estate agents and the stamp duty to the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The property is expected to trigger a £1.95 million stamp duty bill.
Loginov, however, said that he is confident that all issues will be successfully resolved based on his previous experiences.
”I grew up in Siberia [after] the Soviet Union collapse in the Nineties. We had no money, and barter was a common thing. We were exchanging potato bags for TV sets and cars. I’m sure leading London agents can figure out how to take commissions for a £17 million property in cryptocurrency and I have full faith in HRMC to figure out how to tax it.”
Such a move is part of the growing trend where cryptocurrency is the preferred form of payment for real estate deals. As the value of Bitcoin increases, we’ll continue seeing more and more real estate owners supporting Bitcoin payments instead of traditional payment methods.
