Miami-based developers Ciprés and Rilea Group have sold a condominium unit at their boutique project under construction in Midtown Miami using Bitcoin in a direct wallet-to-wallet transaction they are touting as the first of its kind.

The fully furnished condo traded for $528,900 in Bitcoin, with the buyer getting a “high fashion" rock-and-roll-style studio at the 12-story, 146-unit tower, said Ojeda. Units range from a studio measuring 386 square feet to a three-bedroom unit measuring 1,612 square feet. Prices begin in the $500,000s and go up to about $1.8 million.

The actual transaction begins with the developers verifying the identity of the potential buyer and performing a background check, Ojeda said. The buyer also signs a purchase agreement where they acknowledge“that any fluctuation in the crypto between the time of us receiving it in our cold storage wallet, transferring it to the exchange, and then once it's in dollars, any increase or decrease is on them,"Ojeda said.

The buyer then sends the Bitcoin from their wallet to one owned by the developers. From there, Ojeda and his team can trade it for cash on Kraken, one of the many digital currency exchanges.

But even though The Rider is using crypto for condo sales, the rest of the sales process remains “all the same,” said Ojeda. Agents still get their commission.