Real estate developer Ben Shaoul, of Magnum Real Estate Group, is in contract to sell two Upper East Side apartments for bitcoin, Gimme Shelter has learned.
It is believed to be the first bitcoin real estate transaction in the city.
Two separate buyers are snatching up two sponsor units at condo conversion 389 E. 89th St.; the first unit is a 624-square-foot studio that was asking $875,000, and the second is a 989-square-foot one-bedroom with a den that was asking $1.48 million.
Shaoul is using a third-party service, BitPay, to accept the bitcoin payment and convert it to dollars.
BitPay then pays Shaoul’s company cash.
“It’s like a currency exchange. They accept the bitcoin and give us the dollars,” says Stuart Marton, Magnum’s executive vice president. Adds Shaoul, “It wasn’t easy, but we are doing it.”