Christie’s International Real Estate launches crypto division for high-end property sales

The real estate arm of the leading UK auction house Christie’s has reportedly established a dedicated crypto division as it plans to allow digital currency payments.

Speaking to The New York Times, Christie’s International Real Estate CEO Aaron Kirman confirmed the move comes amid growing demand from high-net-worth individuals seeking to buy property using cryptocurrency, bypassing traditional banks entirely. 

Kirman said the firm has already facilitated several major property deals using crypto and now sees a broader market shift underway.

Why is Christie’s International Real Estate turning to crypto now?

According to Kirman, the decision follows the successful sale of a $65 million property in Beverly Hills back in 2021, where the buyer paid entirely in Bitcoin. The transaction was handled without any banks getting involved, using a team of legal, compliance, and crypto professionals to ensure both security and legality. 

Building on that experience, the firm now plans to formalise the model into a dedicated division focused on real estate deals conducted exclusively with digital assets, Kirman said.

The new service will cater to clients where both the buyer and seller prefer to use crypto, particularly for privacy-related reasons. 

Privacy is another key driver of this trend, Kirman explained, as wealthy individuals, including celebrities and international investors, increasingly favour crypto transactions for the enhanced anonymity they provide compared to traditional payment methods.

Although many such buyers already use LLCs and trusts to obscure ownership, blockchain-based transactions have proven harder to trace, adding an extra layer of privacy.

“We’ve been really successful at protecting buyer identity,” Kirman said, noting that in some crypto-based transactions, even the seller remained unaware of who the buyer was.

Real estate owners are willing to accept crypto

Christie’s reportedly has more than $1 billion in properties currently listed where sellers are willing to accept cryptocurrency. These include high-value homes across California, such as a $63 million Beverly Hills residence and the “Invisible House” in Joshua Tree, which is listed for nearly $18 million.

Kirman noted that many of these sellers view crypto acceptance as a way to draw in innovative and tech-forward buyers.

Crypto-based real estate purchases, while still rare, are not new. High-value transactions have increasingly featured digital currencies, particularly in US and various other corners of the globe.

Some of the first movers in the scene include Dubai-based DAMAC Properties, which started accepting cryptocurrency payments for property sales in 2022, and Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty, which completed a real estate transaction using Bitcoin back in 2017.

More recently, Japan’s The Open House Group started accepting payments in cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, XRP, Solana, and Dogecoin.

Christie’s history with the digital currency space

Christie’s made headlines in 2021 when it became the first major auctioneer to sell an NFT artwork — Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days — for $69.3 million. Since then, the auction house has launched its own Ethereum-based NFT platform and has hosted numerous digital art auctions.

Christie’s, alongside Sotheby’s, has played a key role in legitimizing the NFT sector within traditional art markets.