Think buying and selling homes for bitcoins sounds like a one time thing during the crypto craze and bull run back in December? To Shark Tank‘s Barbara Corcoran, it sounds perfectly natural and like “common sense”
“It makes great common sense,” Corcoran said in a recent interview with MONEY. “I’m being very optimistic because, as a long-term play, it’s perfectly suited for real estate transactions.”
Buying real estate for crypto coins is uncommon, but not unprecedented. There have been houses being sold for cryptocurrency from Texas to Manhattan, and there are currently 140 properties for sale or rent on Zillow that mention cryptocurrency leading coin in their listings. Corcoran, who founded and later sold the New York City real estate agency for $66 million in 2001, says Bitcoin real estate sales will be the norm in the future.
In fact, Corcoran predicts Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will do what most crypto enthusiasts hope it will do – eliminate the need for middlemen and banks.
“I really don’t expect banks to be around 10 years from now unless they change their model,” Corcoran says. “I don’t see why it’s going to be needed if Bitcoin does what I believe it’s going to do.”
Not everyone agrees with Corcoran in her strong believes in cryptocurrency. Legendary investor Warren Buffett called Bitcoin “probably rat poison squared,” and Vanguard’s Jack Bogle has warned investors to “avoid Bitcoin like the plague.”
Of course, mrs.Corcoran is aware of the difficulties bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies face and hurdles they have to overcome to enter the mainstream.
She says that because of the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies, a crypto-sale means there’s no insurance or appraisal, which makes people think twice and feel uncomfortable. And then there’s the cryptocurrency’s infamous instability and price volatility.
“I could agree, this week, that that unit is worth $3 million,” Corcoran says. “If, by next Thursday, the bottom falls out and [the Bitcoin] is worth $2 million, that $3 million agreement is useless.”
Although she voiced this positive opinion on the future of bitcoin, Corcoran says she’s personally staying away from cryptocurrency.
“I lose my credit cards at least once a week, I lose my cell phone once a month,” Corcoran says, “and I can’t even imagine being like that guy in England, what did he lose, $127 million because he lost his private key code?”
Still, Corcoran thinks cryptocurrency will break through these snags in the road — and anyone who says otherwise is “guarding the old guard.”
