Gig Harbor-headquartered Harbor Custom Development Inc. this week said it expects to accept Bitcoin and a dozen other digital currencies as payments for its listed land, development lots, houses, condos and apartments in Washington and three other states.
Before the Jan. 24 launch date, Harbor (Nasdaq: HCDI) may add or subtract digital currencies, according to Harbor, which said all real estate transactions will be settled in U.S. dollars. The other states available for cryptocurrency transactions are California, Texas and Florida.
Harbor Chief Operating Officer Jeff Habersetzer said in a news release that accepting cryptocurrency is “a logical step” for the company and “separates us from our industry peers.”
Use of cryptocurrency to buy real estate has been rising in the industry, and some believe Bitcoin and other digital currencies will revolutionize real estate transactions, according to a report by San Francisco-based UpNest.com.
It noted that the wildly fluctuating price of some digital currencies is among the “many risks and dangers” of buying property using cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin hit $64,400 Nov. 12 but fell to $50,065 by Dec. 23. However, its value has increased around 123% over the last year. Among the other risks are losses due to hackers, bad actors with no real estate experience and risk of new regulations, UpNest said.
While all of Harbor’s deals will be settled in dollars, regulations could impinge on one of the advantages of using cryptocurrency to buy property: privacy when buying. Other advantages UpNest listed include reducing the cost of real estate transactions, avoiding the tax on transferring property rights and balancing the security of brick-and-mortar real estate with the flexibility of digital currency.
The other digital currencies Harbor said it will accept are Ethereum, USD Coin, XRP, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Binance USD, Wrapped Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dai, Bitcoin Cash, Pax Dollar and Gemini Dollar.
Harbor is involved in all aspects of the land development cycle, from land acquisition to the sales and management of residential projects in the Puget Sound region. Its active and recently sold-out communities here are in Gig Harbor, Bremerton, Silverdale, Bainbridge Island, Belfair, Allyn, Port Orchard, Lacey, Burien, Yelm and Blaine.
Elsewhere the company builds in Sacramento, California; Austin, Texas; and Punta Gorda, Florida.
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