An independent escrow company in California has started accepting cryptocurrency as payment, the company announced.
Glen Oaks Escrow said it made the decision to accept cryptocurrency because of the increasing number of homes on the market that are accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment.
“Increasingly, Blockchain and cryptocurrencies have the potential to become a bigger part of real estate transactions, and this is one step to be ahead of the curve and enable transactions to happen through this vehicle,” Glen Oaks Chief Operating Officer Joe Curtis said in a release.
Glen Oaks said it will use BitPay to accept Bitcoin payments. The escrow company will send an invoice to the buyer exactly like wire instructions would be sent. The buyer then will have 15 minutes to pay with Bitcoin or the payment option will expire.
“This is great news for buyers and sellers in the Blockchain space,” said Piper Moretti, a Realtor at Christie's International Luxury Real Estate, Blockchain advisor, crypto transaction expert and a speaker during the 2018 National Settlement Services Summit (NS3). “Cryptocurrency transactions go much smoother when escrow is dialed into this cutting-edge way of purchasing property.
“I am so excited to see this new payment method coming to fruition because two years ago I would try to talk to any escrow company who would listen, and now that it’s become more of a thing, people are realizing that they need to take a look at it,” Moretti added.
After the buyers uses a cryptocurrency to purchase the property, those funds are converted to dollars that the escrow company holds at closing.
Glen Oaks is part of the Pango Group, a family of companies that include American Trust Escrow, CV Escrow, Escrow Trust Advisors, VOI Insurance Solutions and Document Archive Solutions. The company owns and manages more than 30 offices and 300 employees.