Greenwich mansion for sale will take bitcoin cryptocurrency as

The Gold Coast of Connecticut soon might become the Crypto Coast if this real estate listing is any indication.

The owner of a Greenwich estate is willing to accept cryptocurrency as payment for its $6.5 million asking price, in what an agent says is the first such listing of its kind in the wealthy town.

The unidentified owner’s background explains the unusual offer, and their comfort level in taking bitcoin or Ethereum crypto for the 4.3-acre farmhouse compound on Bedford Road, which dates to the early 1800s.

“It’s not like a gimmick,” the property’s listing agent, Kevin Sneddon of Compass told CNBC in an interview.

“Not only does my client hold a lot of cryptocurrency,” Sneddon said, “she actively trades a fair amount of it on a daily basis.” 

The prices of bitcoin and Ethereum are highly volatile and have declined by more than 19% apiece since the beginning of 2022.

If a buyer of the property uses cryptocurrency to pay for the estate as opposed to cash — which remains an option for payment — the seller would be accepting a risk of further significant decline in the price if she did not immediately sell off the crypto for cash.

In recognition of that risk, a number of prior real-estate listings that have entailed cryptocurrency have required the buyer to convert the crypto to cash before the sale closes.

But the listing for this property makes crystal clear, in all-capital-letters type at the end of the description of the estate: “SELLER WILL ACCEPT CRYPTOCURRENCY.”

Sneddon said the seller intends to hold the payment in cryptocurrency.

“She’s not going to turn it over and convert it to anything else,” Sneddon said. “She’s going to add it to her crypto portfolio.”

Sneddon is counting on state-of-the-art amenities on the property to attract a buyer, and he hopes his seller’s willingness to accept payment in digital currency will score his listing the attention of newly-minted crypto millionaires.

“They’d want to come up and consider this house because we take their currency,” he said.

“Someone’s already asked me what kind of crypto she would take,” Sneddon noted.

The fact that the seller in the Greenwich property will accept crypto at closing has brought more attention to the old home in the form of press and inquiries from intrigued potential buyers. 

But Sneddon said his “private-minded” seller isn’t interested in any of that extra attention focusing on her.  

“They wouldn’t want their names out there,” he said of the buyer.

Public records don’t shed light on the identity of the homeowner.

The property last changed hands in 2009 for $5.68 million, according to the Multiple Listings Network.

Records showed it was bought by a limited…