18 Aug 2018
Can You Get a Mortgage with Crypto Currency?
If you haven’t heard about cryptocurrency yet, have you been living under a rock? (Wonder what the mortgage costs would be for a rock...). However, we’re not here to discuss ‘rock mortgages’ (and by rock we mean stone, not the music genre… we’re getting off track). Where were we? Ah, yea, cryptocurrency. In the latter part of 2017, it’s all anyone could take about in the news. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency were in boom, and people made a lot of money from investing.
Even in 2018, it seems cryptocurrency is going nowhere, and some countries are looking to make it a legitimate form of currency. Dubai is one of the first countries to have a state cryptocurrency, and other nations are looking to make the move into legitimising it too.
So, if cryptocurrency becomes a legit form of money, will you be able to have a cryptocurrency mortgage? Mortgages.Online investigates…
Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin?
We’re banging on about cryptocurrency, but we haven’t actually explained what it is – as well as bitcoin too. Cryptocurrency is an electronic digital currency, and bitcoin is a form of this. With no centralised bank or administrator to govern cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, it relies solely on peer-to-peer transactions. These are verified through a network of nodes.
A mysterious figure, by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto (which is actually just a fictitious name), created bitcoin back in 2009. Since then, more and more are investing in it, but it is frequently criticised for a few things. One, being the ever-changing price, the fact it can be used for illegal transactions and the electricity required to power it. Not to mention experts deeming it to be an economic bubble. Whilst it’s not easy to explain, hopefully you get the gist… We’re still not too sure ourselves, but we’re all about mortgages, not cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin House Sale
October 2017 was a landmark event in housing market history. A seller listed their property on the market. Whilst this doesn’t scream ‘landmark’, it gets better. The owner was asking for bitcoin in exchange for their property. They wouldn’t accept cash be it £, $ or €. No, they wanted the cryptocurrency. And, they got their wish… In December of the same year, the transaction was finalised, and the exchange of property for bitcoin was recorded by the Land Registry.
Can I get a cryptocurrency mortgage?
Currently? No. But who are we to say what the future holds? With the first property being sold via cryptocurrency, it could only be a matter of time before mortgages are given in the same way. However, Michael Carney, the Bank of England’s governor, is calling for regulation on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He does not want them banned entirely.
Digital currency is an ever-changing landscape, so it’s uncertain the security of it. What is certain is, if more and more countries make it a legitimate form of state currency, and more houses are sold through cryptocurrency, it’s only a matter of time until bitcoin mortgages and other cryptocurrency mortgages come into common place.
For the meantime, we’ll stick to regular mortgages. To browse your all of your mortgage options, use Mortgages Online.