Last week, the first Bitcoin real estate transaction was recorded in Colombia. La Haus sold one property in Santa Marta to a buyer who was not in Colombia at the time of the transaction. While Colombia is just beginning to consider bitcoin for real estate payments, neighbouring countries such as Venezuela are seeing an increase in the use of cryptocurrency for such transactions.
Colombia Makes Its First Crypto Real Estate Purchases
Colombia’s real estate sector has reached a watershed moment in terms of cryptocurrency adoption, having made its first bitcoin purchase. After receiving a reserve payment of 0.03 BTC a month ago, La Haus, an online real estate company, mediated this purchase. Because the purchase was recently completed by a buyer who was not in Colombia, the transaction was completed using Lightning Network via Opennode, a payment processor.
The purchase comes about a month after the company announced that it would accept bitcoin for reservations and payments for each of the apartments in Natura City, a Santa Marta development with 160 units ready for sale.
Payments in Cryptocurrency for Real Estate
La Haus executives stated that they are working to expand and use these payments for developments throughout the country. According to Jehudi Castro, La Haus’ vice president of future and innovation, the fact that this type of transaction took only a month to complete in Colombia demonstrates the unsatisfied need that existed. We are working to bring this type of alternative to the rest of the country, so that payment methods and investment methods do not become a barrier to accessing residential property.
This is not, however, the first time La Haus has made a cryptocurrency-based purchase. The company, which also has operations in Mexico, recorded its first cryptocurrency purchase in January, when a woman living in Peru purchased a property in Mexico.
Cryptocurrency purchases in the real estate sector are becoming increasingly common in Latin American countries such as Venezuela, where cars and some properties are sold for USDT. One of these purchases occurred last year in a coastal state of the country, where a buyer used USDT to purchase an apartment for $12,000.
