SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah — Cryptocurrency is rising in popularity, and you've likely heard of some of them.
Bitcoin, Etherium, Litecoin, and Dogecoin are just a few of the well-known ones.
Now people like Scott Paul are trying to invest in them more because they believe it's the future of currency.
He's the founder of Wooly and said he has a big interest in cryptocurrency.
"I got lucky and got into Etherium and Bitcoin in 2015, and then I was just one of those individuals who believed in the stories I was hearing that one day it would become a lot more," Paul said.
The Saratoga Springs homeowner is trying to get someone to buy his house for $399,000, but he said he will give someone a negotiable discount of about 10% if they buy it with Dogecoin.
There are a couple of potential issues with this, though.
For one, Dogecoin is very volatile, meaning the value can go up or down very easily. This factor doesn't seem to worry Paul, though.
"I’m a very risky person. I think the chances of me selling it in Dogecoin and having it go up by 20, 30, or 40% is more likely," the tech entrepreneur said.
The second issue is that you can't really buy a home in the traditional sense using cryptocurrency.
"You would have to convert your current cryptocurrency into U.S. dollars for a traditional escrow company to be able to hold it and help facilitate the transaction," said Julian Fowkes, the senior manager of listing operations at Homie.
The licensed realtor also said that the seller would need to convert the money back into cryptocurrency after the sale was complete if that's what the seller is after.
The alternative option would be having lawyers draw up a contract that both the buyer and the seller sign to exchange the money and title of the home on a peer-to-peer basis.
"The contract is written in U.S. dollars, so if you’re buying a house for $300,000, at the end of the transaction that’s how much cash needs to be given to the seller," said Fowkes.
So regardless of whether the value of the cryptocurrency goes up or down in the time it takes for the home sale to finalize, you still owe the same dollar amount.
"I think the future is peer-to-peer. It’s just going to be sending that money, smart contract technology will hold it, and once the purchase contract is complete, it will release the money to the seller," said Fowkes.
Based on the market value from August 1, 2021, a buyer would need to have about Ɖ1,900,000 to get the equivalent of $399,000.
Paul said he has already gotten two offers from people to buy the home in cryptocurrency.
