Chandler, Arizona is a city with futuristic flair. Just southeast of Phoenix, it’s where Alphabet, Inc. (Google) deploys driverless Waymo One cabs to glide through perfectly lined streets.
And now, the City of Chandler has a real estate brokerage that’s certified in cryptocurrency. The agents at Integrity All Stars, part of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona Properties, can help buyers nab the homes they want using digital currencies.
Ahead of the Game
Managing broker Rebecca Hidalgo Rains ascribes the firm’s new abilities to training by Propy Inc. The training includes a “Crypto Certified Agent” course. The subjects? Crypto assets, blockchain and smart contracts, nonfungible tokens (NFTs, which carry blockchain-based certifications of authenticity and ownership), and digital wallet use.
Today, the Integrity All Stars employees can consult with potential clients on the use of cryptocurrency for down payments. They can also represent homeowners interested in selling their homes in NFT form.
Industry Shift
The name Propy comes up often when real estate meets digital assets. It’s a platform and knowledge base perhaps best known for the NFT house of the Florida Gulf Coast, which made quite a splash in early 2022. (Other companies involved in that sale included the seller’s agent Heckler Realty Group LLC, as well as Defi Unlimited LLC.)
Since then, the National Association of Realtors has embraced the technology. NAR’s leader, Leslie Rouda Smith, in June 2022 announced the Association’s “presidential advisory group on cryptocurrency — a member-driven group of issue experts” who will explore a new financial landscape, and guide other professionals seeking information about blockchain technology.
Meanwhile, on Wall Street…
As for the cryptocurrencies themselves, a shakedown in business is under way. This follows the spectacular rise and ignominious fall of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX platform.
Blackrock CEO Larry Fink recently agreed to participate in the New York Times Dealbook Summit to talk about it. This is significant. Blackrock Inc. — one of the world’s wealthiest asset management companies — invested millions in Bankman-Fried’s ill-fated FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
The failed exchange now owes billions of dollars’ worth of missing funds — to about a million different companies and individual investors.
A Lehman Moment
“It’s a Lehman moment within crypto,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was an international titan, founded in 1847. Its undoing? Lehman bought up several mortgage companies, and the massive collapse of subprime mortgage loans devasted its market cap. Lehman Brothers went from being Number 4 among U.S. investment banks, to filing for bankruptcy in 2008.
In November 2022, FTX filed for bankruptcy. John Ray III, who oversaw the infamous Enron liquidation, was appointed as temporary head of FTX to oversee the cleanup of this modern yet familiar mess. (Ray calls the FTX scandal “worse than Enron.”)
At this time, Blackrock is waiting while Bankman-Fried’s legal case plays out and FTX is shepherded through the bankruptcy process. But Fink does have a clear message for the public. Most cryptocurrencies on the exchanges today will not make it over the long term.
Blockchain Endures
FTX aside, Fink said blockchain technology has a bright future and a key role to play in financial transactions. At the core of its value is tokenization — representing assets by indelibly registering them on the blockchain. “I believe the next generation for markets and next generation for securities,” said the Blackrock boss, “will be tokenization of securities.”
The agents who’ve embraced it for real estate are thinking in parallel terms. Most focus on strong digital initiatives, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, or on the fraud-resistant elements that were the point of blockchain from the beginning.
Propy describes the blockchain in real estate as “an inevitable industry evolution” yet a rare, lifetime opportunity for early movers.
Supporting References
ABC 15 via Scripps Local Media: Chandler-Based Integrity All Stars Becomes Certified in Cryptocurrency, NFT Property Transactions (Dec. 23, 2022).
Amy Edelen for Phoenix Business Journal (via KNXV of Phoenix, Arizona): Chandler-Based Integrity All Stars Becomes Certified in Cryptocurrency, NFT Property Transactions. (American City Business Journals; Dec. 22, 2022).
Kevin Helms for Bitcoin.com: Blackrock CEO on FTX Collapse – Most Crypto Companies Aren’t Going to Be Around (Dec. 4, 2022).
Propy.com: Crypto for Real Estate.
And as linked.
Photo credit: Marine 69-71, via Wikimedia Commons, CCA by SA-4.0 International (unmodified).