What if buying a piece of real estate wasn’t a complex and time-intensive process? Dealing in real estate typically involves interacting with an intermediary, swimming through paperwork, and paying steep fees and commissions. Even with the latest advancements in technology, many jurisdictions still require real estate buyers and sellers to show up in person to execute their documents. Most often, this is due to notaries being required to see people physically sign documents, and while some notaries can do this task virtually, not all have the same capabilities. Now, with the help of cryptocurrency (specifically NFTs and smart contracts), the trajectory of real estate transactions is rapidly changing. We’re talking about taking out the middleman and obtaining and transferring ownership with ease. Sales can even be made through sites similar to eBay, but with a new level of added security. In this writing, we will be specifically focusing on crypto’s effect on the luxury real estate market. But first, let’s start with the basics—how NFTs and smart contracts work. What is an NFT? NFTs, short for non-fungible tokens, are cryptographic tokens that can come in the form of many things (e.g., music, drawings, videos). Each NFT is 100% unique and cannot be replicated or replaced. Many times, NFTs represent digital ownership of something, such as a piece of digital art. In other instances, they can be representative of a physical ...
