The real estate market has experienced another moment that has made history Portugal. The first house sold entirely in cryptocurrency happened on Thursday 5th May 2022. It is a 3 bedroom flat in Braga that was bought for three bitcoins, the equivalent of about 110,000 euros. This means that for the first time in Portugal and Europe, a property deal has been completed only with cryptocurrency, without requiring any conversion to euros.
The deed of this property was signed in Póvoa de Varzim, district of Porto, in a transaction carried out entirely in cryptocurrency. With the new regulations of the Order of Notaries launched last month, it is already possible to perform a 100% crypto transaction in Portugal. How? By means of an exchange: the buyer delivers their cryptocurrency to the seller and there is an exchange of digital money for the right to the property. Note that, before this regulation, when it came to buying a house, it was first necessary to convert the cryptocurrencies to euros to carry out the operation.
"This deed represents a historic milestone, the transfer of a digital asset to a physical asset - a house - without any conversion to euros," ZOME highlights on its Facebook page, which participated in the operation together with the Antas da Cunha law firm ECIJA, the Bastonário dos Notários in Portugal and other partners of Crypto Valey in Switzerland.
For Carlos Santos, chief technology officer at ZOME, "the future of mediation will pass through crypto-activities, so we believe that this transaction will open up a whole new world of possible businesses", he said in a statement sent to the press.
"This type of business will have an exponential increase and Portugal is showing very promising signs in terms of digital economy, so we consider that this operation can be a great opportunity for growth and value creation," adds Nuno da Silva Vieira, lawyer and partner responsible for the Legal Intelligence practice area at Antas da Cunha ECIJA, quoted in the same document.
Buying and selling property in cryptocurrency: what do you need to take into account?
However, to carry out a transaction in cryptocurrency it is necessary to follow a set of procedures, which are not required in an ordinary deed, to ensure the control of money laundering, explain the experts contacted by CNN Portugal:
- It is necessary to understand where the money (bank account) was coming from;
- Understand the route of the money until it reached the digital asset (bitcoin);
- Inform the number of the digital wallet;
- Identify the parties involved in the deal (name, profession, address);
- Prove that the money goes from one wallet to another at the time of the transaction.
If this cryptocurrency real estate transaction had exceeded 200,000 euros, in addition to the prior communications mentioned, the operation would have had to be reported to the authorities and it would also be necessary to compare the value of the cryptocurrencies at the date of the promissory contract and their value at the date of the deed, according to Expresso.
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