TechCrunch Founder Michael Arrington’s Kyiv Apartment makes history once again as property sells for nearly 5x starting bid.
The 9th of June will go down in history as the day that changed both the real estate and crypto industries forever. Propy, a Silicon Valley startup, once again disrupted both simultaneously by successfully minting and auctioning the world’s first real estate NFT.
In a symbolic and, frankly, genius move, they chose a particular apartment, already a celebrity in itself. In 2017, it became the first property to be sold via smart contracts and recorded on the blockchain. Propy facilitated the deal, and it made the papers, especially since the buyer was Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch and Arrington XRP Capital.
Now, after a thrilling 27-hour long NFT auction, this lovely studio apartment has become the ultimate catalyst for innovation. The competition was fierce! Bidders from all over the world kept outdoing each other and caused several timer resets. Experts, enthusiasts, and maniacs from both worlds went crazy witnessing everything live online. We thought Propy’s Twitter account might blow up in flames at one point. What an epic event!
Just when the heat and excitement were going through the roof… Boom! The winning bid came in at 36 ETH and knocked everybody else out of the race. As a result, the world’s first real estate NFT had a new, delighted owner. Devon, a San Francisco-based coder, was kind enough to let us share his thoughts:
“I’m very excited to have bought the first real estate NFT from Michael Arrington with Propy. This historic property will be the first of many as crypto evolves the real estate industry. I feel lucky and grateful for the opportunity to participate in this event and own a small piece of crypto history in the making.
It’s amazing to see how smart contracts can automate legal paperwork, deed transfers, and conduct auctions. I believe we will see many more legal and technical innovations that help reduce middlemen and fees while improving access and financing options. A few things that come to mind: DeFi mortgages, fractional real-estate, appraisal certificate authorities, direct deed transfers. The future of crypto in real-estate is looking bright.” – Devon, owner of the world’s first real estate NFT
Our CEO Natalia Karayaneva, who has worked tirelessly in the last few years to make this dream a reality, said:
“I’m thrilled with the results of the auction and the work our partners and our team did to bring this project to fruition. It’s a major milestone in leveraging the promise of blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFT) to achieve self-driving real estate transactions.”
Naturally, the NFT sale works differently than a traditional real estate one. In a textbook example of expertise and innovation, Propy has figured out how to NFT a physical property perfectly compliant with legal requirements. The ownership of the property is held by a US registered LLC. The LLC itself is already recorded in Ukraine, and the apartment is listed in their real estate registry. Michael Arrington signed proprietary-developed legal papers for NFTs to transfer ownership to all future buyers. Propy developed the smart contracts, the legal framework suitable for the US market, and will soon launch our real estate NFT auction platform for the upcoming Propy-NFTs.
“The benefits of this type of ownership are groundbreaking,”
says Varun Bajaj, a real estate attorney, and cryptocurrency expert.
“Future ownership can now be transferred instantly on the blockchain by anyone, anywhere – it truly is an example of global, peer-to-peer financing.”
Propy isn’t stopping anytime soon. We are already developing the NFT auction platform and planning the subsequent NFT property sales.
“Over 100 people have reached out to us, eager to sell their properties, and we’re very excited to help them.”
said Natalia.You can find more details about the sale here.
That is a remarkable step ahead in the real estate and crypto spaces. It proves that the property-buying process could be that much easier, faster, and more fun! The future of Propy and these industries with trillion-dollar potential is exhilarating. On to the next one!
