Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Become Eligible As Form of Rent Payment

Key Insights:

• Jamestown has partnered with BitPay to enable crypto as a payment option for its tenants.
• Cryptocurrencies accepted for the same include assets ranging from Bitcoin to stablecoins.
• The crypto market itself has been losing money over the last few days.

The adoption of cryptocurrencies for facilitating payments across stores and merchants was the first step in making these digital assets a part of our regular life.

But thanks to the expanding use cases, including tax payments and payments for government services, and now rent payments, crypto will integrate itself into everyone’s life sooner than expected.

Jamestown To Accept Crypto

In an announcement today, the design-focused real estate investment and management firm Jamestown stated that it will now be accepting rent payments from its tenants in the form of cryptocurrencies.

To facilitate the same, the firm partnered with BitPay, which will act as an intermediary exchange.

Stating the reason behind enabling this provision for their tenants, the President of Jamestown, Michael Phillips, said,

“Blockchain technology and the digital assets it enables, like cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, are key components to the evolution of real estate. Allowing for cryptocurrency payments is part of our commitment to innovation and larger digital asset strategy to optimize and maximize our physical real estate through technology and virtual integrations.”

Since Jamestown will not be receiving or holding cryptocurrencies directly, BitPay will convert the cryptocurrencies received from tenants into fiat.

The cryptocurrencies acceptable for the rent payments initially include Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC), and five USD-pegged stablecoins (GUSD, USDC, USDP, DAI, and BUSD).

Jamestown will be beginning by providing these services to tenants of its real estate assets throughout the United States of America. Eventually, they will also expand this service to their assets in Europe.

Would People Opt for It?

Given the state of the market, it is pretty uncertain if people would be willing to opt for paying in crypto. This could be because the market’s volatility is wildly unpredictable and can harm anyone’s holdings within a matter of hours.

For example, any tenant who purchases crypto to pay their rent the next could potentially lose their money within those 24 hours since it has happened in the past.

An instance of the same can be found in the red candle of April 26 when within 24 hours, Bitcoin, along with most of the other altcoins, lost more than 5% of its value, some even touching 12%.

Depreciation as such is concerning and could also keep people at bay from taking any risks.