NYC Apartments Sold For Bitcoin, Report Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — New York City real estate has reached a new frontier: Cryptocurrency. Developer Ben Shaoul of Magnum Real Estate Group has entered a contract to sell two Upper East Side apartments for Bitcoin, according to reports.

The two apartments being sold for Bitcoin are located in Magnum Real Estate's condo conversion at 389 E. 89th St, located between First and Second avenues, the New York Post first reported. The sale is believed to be the first time Bitcoin is being accepted in exchange for real estate in New York city, according to the report.

"It wasn’t easy, but we are doing it," Shaoul said.

The transaction will go through a third-party business called BitPay, which will receive the Bitcoin payment and then pay the cash equivalent to Shaoul, the Post reported.

Shaoul has been open to accepting Bitcoin as payment since late 2017, he told CNBC at the time. The developer told CNBC that Bitcoin appeals to an "evolved" buyer of real estate.

"I think the demographic of the crypto user is a younger millennial, but, that being said, you have a lot of people come over from other countries, who are buyers from different places, who like to trade in different types of currency. Not everyone wants to trade in dollars or yen or euros," Shaoul told CNBC.

Read the full New York Post article here.

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