A blockchain platform is planning the first-ever auction of a physical apartment as a non-fungible token.
Propy, the real estate platform, is conducting the apartment NFT auction. Propy introduced smart contracts for property transfers when it was founded in 2015. This cut out the middlemen as well as hours in time otherwise spent on paperwork.
It is now offering a modern, brand new, one-bedroom apartment in Kiev, Ukraine, currently owned by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, as an NFT. Propy made history with the apartment by making it the first-ever blockchain-based real estate sale back in 2017.
The platform, which raised over $1.2 million in a funding round including venture capitalist investor Tim Draper in 2020, will create the NFT to represent the real transfer of ownership, according to TechCrunch.
The auction itself will happen over a 24-hour period beginning on June 8. The initial listing price starts at $20,000. In addition, the sale includes an NFT art piece on a wall as well as a printed cyberpunk picture with licensed rights.
Bricks and Mortar on the Blockchain
Arrington has already signed legal papers designed by Propy’s lawyers for the NFT to transfer ownership to a future buyer. The platform will then conduct the NFT auction and receive payment in cryptocurrency. The auction winner will become the owner instantly after filling out some KYC details.
The apartment is currently owned by a USA-based entity, so the new owner of the non-fungible token becomes the owner of the entity and, thus, the property itself. This process repeats every time the NFT attached to the property is resold. Propy CEO Natalia Karayaneva said:
“This NFT will go down in history. For Propy it is a major milestone in leveraging the promise of blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFT) to achieve ‘self-driving’ real estate transactions and real estate participation in the decentralized finance economy.”
Arrington, who is also a partner in Arrington XRP Capital, lauded the move for its ability to cut out the middlemen and enable decentralized borrowing opportunities. He said:
“Coming at this from a crypto angle, we’ve seen what happens how DeFi gets plugged into credit markets. If I have an NFT or any DeFi asset I can then borrow against it, without a middleman.”
PRO Price Reaction
Propy’s native token dropped in price over the past 24 hours, with a 16% loss to hit $0.863, according to CoinGecko.
PRO tokens have taken a hit with the rest of the crypto market last week. PRO is still down from its all-time high of $5.15, which came in the altcoin peak in January 2018.
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