Green Bay Packers fans have a chance to live just steps away from Lambeau Field – but it will cost them $1 million in cryptocurrency.
A so-called “Packer House” — it’s one of six homes that are actually connected to the parking lot at the National Football League team’s home stadium — the three-bedroom property is being sold on the blockchain, which is a first in the U.S., according to global property marketplace Propy. The home is currently owned by former Facebook executive and Green Bay native Chris Murphy.
“He is a crypto enthusiast and he wants to use the funds to back bitcoin initiatives,” said Natalia Karayaneva, chief executive of Propy.
The roughly 1,000-square-foot property’s $1 million price tag is steep though, even with its location taken into account. Real estate website Zillow estimated its value to be just over $256,000, and its value was assessed at $264,000 in 2016 for tax purposes.
A blockchain is a digital, public ledger that can record transactions using cryptographic security features in a verifiable manner that eliminates the need for someone to perform recordkeeping. The technology serves as the backbone of digital currencies including bitcoin.
The sale follows a previous deal Propy facilitated in Ukraine, which it heralded as the first time a real estate asset was sold on the Ethereum blockchain. In that transaction, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington purchased a $60,000 apartment in Kiev, as The Wall Street Journal reported. The deal was handled via smart contracts and paid for in bitcoin-competitor Ether and Propy’s own digital currency, PRO. Prior to the sale, the Ukrainian government ushered in regulation that allowed the title recording process to be fully integrated digitally, meaning the title was registered on a cyber-ledger.
