One House for Two Bitcoin?
With Rich Strike being a recent winner in Belmont Park, a crypto savvy buyer scored a Louisville-area house for two BTC, according to the Courier Journal. The transaction was for $65,000 (including commissions and fees converted to cash), and BTC was trading at roughly $33,000 at the time. This marks the first real-estate transaction using bitcoin in Louisville, Kentucky, with a wallet-to-wallet transfer. The purchase took about eight seconds and cost $0.70 in transaction fees, versus the standard wiring fee of about $30.
The seller of the property potentially plans invest profits from the sale into BTC by liquidating multiple properties. The buyer has been an investor in BTC for some time, and sees Bitcoin as a future. "I'm happy that I can help try and bring this technology to the future. There's so many uses for [Bitcoin], and I think we're at the very, very early stages of it. It'll be interesting to see where it goes."
Listing agent Ashley Brown with Homepage Realty wasn't sure the transaction was even legal, but was assisted by Millennial Title Company, a local firm experienced in these types of transact ions. "I think in two to three years, [using Bitcoin in home purchases] will be more commonplace," Ridge told the Courier Journal.
The State of Kentucky seems to be more on the welcoming side when it comes to cryptocurrency. Last year Governor Andy Beshear passed two laws to incentivize bitcoin miners to bring their talents to his State. Senate Bill 255 extends the commonwealth’s clean energy-based incentives to miners who provide a minimum capital investment of $1 million, while Kentucky House Bill 230 provides miners with a number of tax breaks.
Bitcoin mining is also becoming a thing. According to Foundry Digital, as of October 2021, Kentucky accounted for 18.7% of the United States’ total Bitcoin hashrate, second to 19.9% in New York.
Blockware Solutions opened up a mining facility in Belfry, Kentucky, population <500 residents, located near the West Virginia border. “In the economy and region we’re in, the fact that an energy grid exists is awesome, but there aren’t many energy consumers like us in the region, so if we can take down large amounts of energy, we’re adding stability to the grid,” CEO Mason Jappa told TechCrunch. The project is expected to commence by the fourth quarter of 2022, according to its press release. The facility will create dozens of high-paying jobs, with estimated average wages for Blockware Solutions technicians starting at $23/hour.
Kentucky state Rep. Angie Hatton said, “It is my hope that a region known for mining coal will now benefit from this different type of mining. It means a lot to see Blockware Solutions invest here and create these jobs, and I also hope that its significant electricity needs will help stabilize our steep residential rates,” she added.
Sounds like Kentucky could be angling for some of the miners heading to Texas and New York, and positioning itself as a leader in the "digital gold rush".