When Christie's can buy houses with Crypto Assets, a new milestone in the RWA track.

Written by: BUBBLE, Rhythm

"Buy land, they're not making it anymore." This is a quote mistakenly attributed to Mark Twain in the 20th century, frequently used as a slogan in the real estate sales field. Gravity strongly endorses this statement; if humanity cannot achieve interstellar travel, land is just like Bitcoin in that it cannot be "inflated."

In 2025, the crypto wave spread from Silicon Valley to Wall Street and finally influenced Washington. With the gradual progress of compliance, it began to quietly change the fundamental structure of the real estate industry. In early July, Christie's International Real Estate officially established a dedicated department for crypto property transactions, becoming the world's first mainstream luxury real estate brokerage brand to fully support "pure cryptocurrency payment for home purchases" in its corporate name.

And this is just the beginning. From Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to Dubai developers, from Beverly Hills mansions in Los Angeles to rental apartments in Spain, a number of real estate trading platforms centered around blockchain technology and digital assets are emerging, forming a new "Crypto Real Estate" sector.

How Cryptocurrency Can Drive the Next Wave of American Real Estate

The value of real estate in the United States has approached $50 trillion in 2024, making it one of the most significant asset markets globally, compared to approximately $23 trillion in 2014, which means the asset size in this sector has doubled over the past decade.

The overall volume of real estate in the United States, Awealthofcommonsense analysis report

In June 2025, the NAR report showed that the median home price in the U.S. reached $435,300, an increase of 2% compared to the same period last year. The housing inventory was about 1.53 million units, with a supply-demand balance of 4.7 months. High home prices and long-term supply shortages have raised the threshold, coupled with persistently high mortgage rates (the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in July 2025 being around 6.75%, while Bitcoin mortgages are currently about 9%) consistently exceeding the annual increase in property value, which has suppressed transaction volumes, and low liquidity has led property investors to seek new sources of liquidity.

High interest rates not only hinder the low liquidity issues faced by real estate investors. Over the past five years, property owners have seen their average wealth increase by $140,000. However, many families are reluctant to leverage their real estate assets for liquidity because they generally have only two paths for monetization: one is to sell the entire asset, and the other is to rent it out. Borrowing against real estate at the current interest rates is not a good choice, and selling in the context of continuously rising property prices also does not seem like a better investment decision.

In the overall real estate sector, which is valued at approximately $50 trillion, about 70% of the equity (approximately $34.98 trillion) is owned by holders. This means that only 30% is supported by borrowed funds, while the rest is from the buyers' own funds. For example, if a family owns a property worth $500,000, although nominally they own this property, if they want to sell it, they need to deduct the borrowed portion to find out their actual ownership. In the case of 70% equity, they possess $350,000 in equity from this property.

U.S. real estate equity holdings, source: Ycharts

Simply having a supply and demand relationship is far from enough. The concept of RWA has been developing for many years, but it has only truly begun to explode in the past two years, especially after Trump's election in 2025, which further increased the rate of increase.

The core is compliance, especially for investors in low-liquidity assets like real estate. In March 2025, the newly appointed FHFA director, William Pulte, ordered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop plans that allow the inclusion of crypto assets as reserve assets when assessing the risk of single-family mortgages, without the need to convert them into dollars first. This policy encourages banks to treat cryptocurrencies as countable assets for savings, expanding the borrower base.

In July 2025, Trump signed the GENIUS Act and promoted the CLARITY Act. The GENIUS Act officially recognizes stablecoins as legal digital currencies, requiring them to be fully backed 1:1 by safe assets such as US dollars or short-term government bonds, and mandates third-party audits. The CLARITY Act seeks to clarify whether digital tokens are classified as securities or commodities, providing a regulatory pathway for practitioners.

These sets of combination punches provide a larger safety margin for the field, combined with the scarcity attribute of real estate similar to Bitcoin's "non-inflatable" nature (land cannot increase in quantity, but real estate itself can; building houses is like mining), making it easier for the two to integrate. Digitization helps break down high barriers. One of the Big Four accounting firms, Deloitte, predicts in its financial sector report that by 2035, approximately $4 trillion of real estate may be tokenized, far exceeding less than $300 billion in 2024.

Tokenization can break down large real estate into smaller fractions, providing global investors with a low-threshold and highly liquid way to participate, while also creating cash flow for buyers and sellers who originally lacked funds. That said, while the figure of 40 trillion dollars is appealing, it is debatable, much like the institutional prediction that ETH's market value will reach 85 trillion in the future. But to what extent has it developed? We might be able to find some Alpha in the market.

Fragmentation? Lending? Renting? Providing liquidity? Play real estate like playing DeFi

Unlike other low liquidity entities such as gold and artworks, real estate inherently carries its own financial attributes. When it connects with Crypto, it becomes even more diversified.

Although there have been attempts before, the collaboration between the Harbor platform and RealT in 2018 to launch blockchain-based real estate tokenization services is considered one of the earlier and more substantial real estate tokenization projects.

Specifically, the RealT platform splits property rights into tradable RealTokens via blockchain. Each property is held by an independent company (Inc/LLC), and investors purchasing RealTokens essentially hold a portion of the company’s shares and proportionally enjoy rental income. The platform utilizes Ethereum's authorized issuance mechanism, making the investment threshold relatively low (usually around $50), and both transactions and rental distributions are completed on-chain, relieving investors of the daily management tasks typical of traditional landlords. RealT distributes rental income to holders weekly in the form of stablecoins (USDC or xDAI).

The expected return comes from the Return on Net Assets (RONA), which is the annual net rent divided by the total investment in the property. For example, if the expected annual rental income of a property is $66,096 after deducting expenses and the total investment is $880,075, then the RONA is 7.51%. This value does not include leverage or property appreciation gains. Currently, the average return on this platform fluctuates between 6% and 16%.

After tokenization, the next step is naturally to apply it. RealT's own properties do not have loans, and all funds come from the sale of RealTokens. However, to allow holders to flexibly utilize their assets, RealT has launched the RMM (Real Estate Money Market) module.

RMM is based on the Aave protocol, and you can do two things with it. The first is to provide liquidity; just like LP interest in DeFi, investors can deposit USDC or XDAI into RMM and receive corresponding ArmmToken, which accumulates interest in real-time. The second is to borrow by collateralizing RealToken. You can use the RealToken or stablecoins you hold as collateral to borrow assets like XDAI. There are also two options for borrowing rates: a stable rate (similar to a short-term fixed rate, but adjusts when utilization is too high or the rate is too low) and a variable rate (which fluctuates based on market supply and demand).

Opening the lending path means that leverage can be used, similar to how house-flipping groups borrowed money to buy properties over a decade ago, using loans to buy more properties. By mortgaging RealToken to borrow stablecoins and then purchasing RealToken again, this process can be repeated multiple times to increase the overall return rate. It is important to note that with each additional layer of leverage, the health factor decreases and risk increases.

Note: The health factor is the inverse ratio of the collateral value to the loan value; the higher the health factor, the lower the risk of liquidation. When the health factor drops to 1, it means that the value of the collateral is equal to the value of the loan, which may trigger liquidation. Ways to avoid liquidation include repaying part of the loan or adding collateral. (Similar to the margin in perpetual contracts)

In addition to real estate being used as collateral for loans, there has been more discussion recently about using native crypto assets for mortgage lending to buy homes. Fintech company Milo allows borrowers to use Bitcoin as collateral to obtain a mortgage with up to 100% loan-to-value ratio. By early 2025, it has completed $65 million in crypto mortgage business, with a total of over $250 million in loans issued. On the policy level, there is also a "green light" for this model, as the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in the United States requires mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to consider compliant crypto assets in their risk assessments. Although the interest rates for crypto mortgages are generally close to or slightly higher than traditional mortgages, their main attraction lies in the ability to finance without having to sell crypto assets.

A survey by Redfin shows that approximately 12% of first-time homebuyers in the U.S. used cryptocurrency earnings to make down payments (through sales or mortgage lending) after the pandemic. Coupled with the shift in policy direction, this will undoubtedly attract "big companies" to enter the market, and "Crypto Real Estate" is also witnessing the participation of high-end real estate economic firms for the first time.

In July 2025, Christie's International Real Estate established the world's first luxury real estate division focused on cryptocurrency, becoming a landmark case of the integration of traditional high-end real estate brokerage with digital assets. Interestingly, this initiative did not stem from a top-down strategic push, but was a response to the genuine needs of high-net-worth clients.

Christie's executives stated, "An increasing number of affluent buyers want to complete real estate transactions directly with digital assets, which has prompted the company to adapt and establish a service framework that supports full-process crypto payments." In Southern California, Christie's has completed multiple luxury home transactions fully paid in cryptocurrency, totaling over $200 million, all in the "eight-figure" range of top-tier residences. Currently, Christie's portfolio of crypto-friendly properties is valued at over $1 billion, covering numerous luxury homes willing to accept "pure cryptocurrency offers."

Among them, a luxury mansion "La Fin" accepting pure cryptocurrency payments, valued at $118 million, is located in Bel-Air, Los Angeles. It features 12 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, a 6,000 square foot nightclub, a private wine cellar, a subzero vodka tasting room, a cigar lounge, and a gym with a climbing wall. The previous listing price was as high as $139 million, source: realtor.

Christie's cryptocurrency real estate department not only offers payment channels based on mainstream crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum, but also collaborates with custodians and legal teams to ensure that transactions are completed within a compliant framework. This includes cryptocurrency payment custody, tax and compliance support, and asset matching (a dedicated crypto real estate portfolio that meets the specific investment needs of high-net-worth clients).

Aaron Kirman, CEO of Christie's Real Estate, predicts that "over the next five years, more than a third of residential real estate transactions in the U.S. may involve cryptocurrency." Christie's shift indirectly confirms the penetration of crypto assets among high-net-worth individuals and signals a structural transformation in traditional real estate transaction models.

The infrastructure is improving, but it seems that "user" education still has a long way to go.

As of now, the tokenization of real estate projects has taken shape, but it seems to fall short of the expected standards. RealT has tokenized over 970 rental properties to date, generating nearly $30 million in pure rental income for users; while Lofty has tokenized 148 properties across 11 states, attracting about 7,000 monthly active users who share approximately $2 million in annual rental income through holding tokens. The scale of several projects is almost hovering around tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, and the delays in breaking through may be attributed to various reasons.

On one hand, blockchain indeed allows transactions to break free from geographical restrictions, enabling cross-border instant settlement, and the transaction fees are lower compared to traditional real estate transfer costs. However, investors need to understand that this is not a "zero-cost" ecosystem: token minting fees, asset management fees, trading commissions, network fees, and potential capital gains tax comprise a new cost structure. Compared to the "one-stop service" provided by traditional real estate agents and lawyers, crypto real estate requires investors to actively learn and understand smart contracts, on-chain custody, and crypto tax regulations.

On the other hand, while liquidity is a selling point, it comes with higher volatility. Tokenized real estate can be traded around the clock in the secondary market, allowing investors not only to receive rental income but also to exit their positions at any time. However, when liquidity is insufficient, the token price may be significantly higher or lower than the actual valuation of the property itself, with market fluctuations potentially occurring even faster than the cycles of physical real estate, increasing the speculative nature of short-term trading.

In addition, many platforms have introduced DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) governance, allowing investors to vote on matters such as rent and maintenance. This sense of participation is similar to "playing Monopoly," lowering the barriers to entry and enhancing interactivity, but it also places new demands on users: they not only need to understand property management, but also possess awareness of on-chain governance and compliance. Without sufficient education, investors may misjudge risks, viewing digital properties as a short-term arbitrage tool rather than a long-term asset allocation.

In other words, the real barrier to crypto real estate is not the technology, but the understanding. Users need to comprehend knowledge such as collateral ratio, liquidation mechanisms, on-chain governance, and tax reporting, which is a disruptive change for those accustomed to traditional home buying models.

With the gradual clarification of regulations, optimization of platform experience, and the involvement of mainstream financial institutions, the future of crypto real estate is expected to shorten this educational curve. However, in the foreseeable years, the industry still needs to invest more resources in user training, risk control education, and compliance guidance in order to truly transition "crypto real estate" from niche experimentation to widespread adoption.