After rumors about it had already spread in 2019 but were immediately denied by Emaar Properties, it was now announced in March 2022 that the UAE-based real estate company will indeed start to accept the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum for payments and purchasing property. Emaar themselves released a tokenized reward system in 2020 but so far it hasn’t been possible to buy properties from them in Bitcoin. This is now most likely about to change according to a recently released outlet.
Are Emaar Properties accepting bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the world’s first and most successful cryptocurrency. It was created in 2008 originally by one or more anonymous developers under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin was the first attempt to develop digital cash and dominate the worldwide crypto market.
Utilizing a peer-to-peer network, Bitcoin can be bought online, and all transactions worldwide are noted in a blockchain. Bitcoins can be stored in a digital wallet and can be used as a currency for increased transactions. The trade with bitcoins has become a very lucrative business and for that reason, an increase in people are using it. The highest ever-achieved value of a Bitcoin was 68.744,03 $ in November 2021. Over 80 million people (about twice the population of California) worldwide are using Bitcoin for digital transactions or as a source of investment and trading.
Announcement of Emaar starting to accept bitcoin
The announcement about the future acceptance of Bitcoin first came on the local news outlet Lovin Dubai at the end of March 2022 (2), sharing an outlet from Emaar Properties to selected customers where they inform them that they will accept cryptocurrency from now on. There are already advertisements appearing online that invite customers to buy properties and estate in Dubai with Bitcoin. The broker that Emaar will work with within these processes will most likely be Bitcoin Suisse from Switzerland. All this doesn´t come as a too huge surprise if it is considered that the UAE is starting to make attempts in becoming a new crypto-hub to the world, recognizing the large potential of this market.These new developments are most likely targeting the vastly growing customer group of crypto-millionaires (3) that are expected to buy properties and estates in the United Arab Emirates. Buying properties and estates using cryptocurrency is not a new thing altogether. In the last few years, it has become more and more common to enhance this form of payment for real estate-related transactions and so it would make sense for Emaar to follow this trend. There even are a number of companies that specialize in the real estate market only based on crypto payment.
Conclusion
For investors, the UAE may become a very interesting market in terms of crypto-investment and it won’t be a mistake to keep an eye on further progress made in this regard. Even though Emaar Properties hasn´t yet officially confirmed its future acceptance of cryptocurrency, it is very likely that this time, the news isn’t mere rumors but the expanding company is actually about to follow the trends that the Emirates in general and Dubai in special are recently signalizing to the world.
- Is the announcement already official?
No. Emaar hasn´t yet confirmed the announcement about them accepting crypto in the future officially. However, contrary to 2019 when similar news went viral already and the company quickly denied these rumors as false, so far, no such denial has been reported from them. For this reason, it can be deemed reliable that this time, it is true that the possibility will be realized.
- Who will overview and regulate the transactions in UAE?
The transactions will be supervised and overseen by the VARA (Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority) in Dubai which is responsible for all digital transactions in the Emirate.
- How are the developments in Dubai and the UAE regarding cryptocurrency?
Dubai is constantly increasing its efforts in regards to establishing itself as a new global player in the field of cryptocurrency and set new guidelines and regulators for crypto trade just this year. (4) The Emirates clearly is hoping to attract a lot of international investors by applying these steps and so it is a reasonable step undertaken by Emaar to follow these recent developments.
