50 Dubai Apartments have been sold for Bitcoin

Lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone and her billionaire boyfriend, Doug Barrowman, put 50 of their 1,300 developments, located in Dubai’s Science Park, up for sale with Bitcoin, which attracted significant attention. In fact, Barrowman told Business Insider “We’ve sold all out,”. “Some bought ones and twos, and one individual bought ten.”

Studio apartments were sold for $130,000, currently equivalent to around 16 bitcoins, and two-bedroom apartments went for $380,000, or around 47 bitcoins. This is reportedly the first property development ever to be sold using cryptocurrency.

Those purchasing Mone’s developments also have the option to design their new home using Baroness Mone Interiors — her self-titled design service — which can also be paid for using Bitcoin.

More buyers are looking to use Bitcoin to purchase prime Dubai real estate. “We’re still getting lots of inquiries,” Barrowman explained. “We’ve not released another batch. Particularly when bitcoin was riding high in the charts. I think a lot of people were cashing out over the Christmas period.”

However, Barrowman’s company, the Knox Group, doesn’t actually receive the payments in the virtual currency, as the entrepreneurs have arranged a deal with BitStamp, a popular exchange, to immediately convert cryptocurrency payments into USD.

The pair expects to make more apartments available for purchase with Bitcoin in the future.