Would you sell your home for Bitcoin?

2017 ended with cryptocurrencies on fire. You couldn’t open Facebook, Twitter or a newspaper without seeing something about Bitcoin’s insane rise in value. Then it all came crashing down, but people haven’t lost faith. In fact, it’s looking like the cryptocurrency craze may soon make a stronger impact on real estate.

Earlier this month, news of a Vancouver Island couple willing to accept Bitcoin for their oceanfront home made waves. The home was listed for $2.7 million, but how much Bitcoin does that equal?

That’s the problem with using cryptocurrencies in real estate deals. The value fluctuates so much that by the time you’re done reading through your agreement, the value could have dropped or increased by hundreds of dollars.

At the beginning of last year, a single Bitcoin was worth nearly $1,000 USD, but finished the year around $17,500. At the time of writing this (January 16), Bitcoin is sitting at just more than $10,000. At the time of posting this, Bitcoin is at nearly $12,000. There’s no way the Vancouver couple can say exactly how much Bitcoin they’re willing to accept without taking a huge risk.

Bitcoin did crash 25% recently, triggering headlines forecasting the doom of cryptocurrencies.

The craze hit closer to home when councillor Norm Kelly suggested that the City of Toronto should perform a study to see if residents should be allowed to use cryptocurrencies to pay bills like property taxes, land transfer taxes, and parking tickets. The motion will be put forward at the January 31 council meeting.

“Hundreds of thousands of companies around the world have been accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment for quite a while now, why shouldn’t governments also take advantage of this?” Kelly says in a statement.

“The city of Toronto has emerged as one of the premier cities of the world, and it’s proud to be a centre of innovation and creativity and I think this adds to that brand,” he adds. “Regardless of what happens, people know that we’re not afraid of investigating and promoting the future.”

Despite the recent Bitcoin crash (which dragged other rival cryptocurrencies down with it), it seems like a smart idea to at least look at whether the City and its residents can benefit from a digital currency payment system.

On the other hand, if the government starts accepting Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies, isn’t that just one step closer to government regulation? One of the benefits of cryptocurrencies is that encryption techniques regulates the generation of units, then the market determines the value.  

If governments start accepting cryptocurrencies, they’ll be trading, playing with a wider variety and larger amount than the average household, which means they’ll significantly impact the values.

There’s a need for cryptocurrencies to become mainstream so that they survive, but if they become too mainstream, the government will find a reason and a way to regulate it to some degree. It’s possible a healthy balance could be found.

Would you pay your taxes with Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency? Would you ever sell or buy a homewith it?