Bond New York announced last week that it will accept bitcoin, the online currency, as payment for real estate transactions.
“We are accepting Bitcoin as a service to our customers who prefer to use the digital currency as a matter of convenience. We are always looking for ways to serve our customers through technological advancement,” Brian Dusseau, a BOND agent, said in a statement. “In addition we have agents who would like to be paid in bitcoins if their customer pays us in bitcoins.”
Bitcoin launched in 2009 and is entirely internet-based. Advantages of the currency include anonymity and low fees, because transactions are conducted without banks or other intermediaries, proponents say.
The frontier currency has a reputation for association with illegal activities, but has also increased in value due to investor speculation.
“Right now a bitcoin is worth about $750 USD. The currency is earned by computers solving complex mathematic equations first; so far about half of 21 million bitcoins that will ever be created have been created, and earned,” Noah Freedman, co-founder of BOND New York, said in a statement.
“Bitcoin is a convenient and inexpensive way for our customers to transfer money so we see it as a win-win situation which will impact the real estate industry.”
