Portugal Allows Real Estate Buyers to Pay With Bitcoin

Portugal recently relaxed its laws toward cryptocurrencies and is now promoting payments with tokens in all sorts of circumstances — including real estate purchases, according to a Cryptopolitan report Sunday (May 8).

Recently, a buyer completed the purchase of a two-bedroom apartment in Braga for 3 bitcoins (about $116,000), the report said, and this is not the first time such a transaction was completed using digital currency. Bitcoin is regularly used in real estate deals in the U.S., Singapore, Colombia and, of course, Portugal, according to the report.

Real estate broker Zome participated in the Braga apartment purchase along with the ACE advocacy group, the report said.

“The evolution of the crypto industry has accelerated in Europe after the highest regulatory authorities admitted that cryptocurrencies are the future,” according to the report. “Portugal is one of the most recent countries to adopt crypto-trading, and the real estate field benefits from it.

“The apartment sold with Bitcoin in Braga is just the beginning of a wave of crypto adoptions in Portugal. Previously, decentralized currencies could not be traded because national laws prevented this transaction. However, the whole environment changed, making it possible for the Portuguese to invest, store and transfer Bitcoin,” the report said.

Bitcoin tokens are valued at about $32,500 these days, their lowest value since July 2021. Zome is also open to including dogecoin and other crypto tokens in future real estate offers, the report said.

Related: Jamestown Accepting Cryptocurrency for Rent Payment Through BitPay Partnership

Last month, real estate investment and management firm Jamestown partnered with cryptocurrency payments processor BitPay to accept crypto-based rent payments for its U.S. properties with plans to expand it into Europe.

Jamestown will accept rent payments in several cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum, dogecoin, litecoin and five USD-pegged stablecoins, and the release noted that more types could be added later.

Jamestown oversees about 26 million square feet of real estate across the U.S., including Ponce City Market in Atlanta, Georgia, Ballston Exchange in Arlington, Texas, and Levi’s Plaza in San Francisco, California.