A Czech company has sold the first apartment in the Czech Republic using bitcoin currency, the daily Hospodářské noviny reported on Thursday. The apartment in Prague’s Strašnice district was bought by a Russian citizen last month for 35 bitcoins, which was more than five million crowns at the time.

Photo: Bitcoin press service

According to the daily, it is only the second property paid in crypto-currency worldwide. The first was a house that was sold in the US.

The transaction was facilitated by the company Home Hunters, which searches for apartments for rent or purchase and offers transactions in digital currency.

“The buyer was looking for an apartment in Prague and one of his conditions was bitcoin payment. He wanted to invest some of his property stored in digital currency into real estate,” Jaroslav Kováč, the founder of Home Hunters, told the daily.

“We had a proposed business process, but we had never tried it before. However, the client agreed to test the process with us,” Kováč told Hospodářské noviny.

“Bitcoin is the future of the money sector, the advantage is easy transfer compared to regular currencies, which was one of the reasons I decided to buy an apartment using bitcoin,” the Russian buyer explained to the daily.

At present, Home Hunters is negotiating further sales of flats in the Czech Republic for bitcoins, because of interest of both Russian and Czech clients.

“In the future, such transactions could be of interest to the Chinese, who are among the biggest crypto-currency users,” Kováč told the daily.

In the Czech Republic bitcoin has been accepted by internet retailer Alza or some Subway fast-food branches since summer. The Czech Republic is also one of the first countries where people can buy housing, but also household equipment or refreshments.

The value of the digital currency has grown twenty times over the last year and now exceeds 400,000 crowns.