Remember when everyone was convinced that blockchain cryptocurrency was the future? In those halcyon days, almost everyone with a modicum of tech savvy was convinced that investing in Bitcoin or Ethereum was the secret to effortlessly striking it rich…until the bubble burst. But if the terms of a splashy nine-figure commercial property deal are any indication, the underlying blockchain technology powering cryptocurrencies could become a significant force in the world of real estate.

Last week, as Swiss outlet SWI reported, Zurich real estate investment firm BrickMark bought a majority stake in Bahnhofstrasse 52, a property on “one of the world’s exclusive and most prestigious luxury shopping boulevards,” according to a press statement. To complete the deal with real estate investment group RFR Holding, known for purchasing the Chrysler Building in 2019, BrickMark partially completed the sale by creating and issuing proprietary BrickMark tokens based on the Ethereum, a type of cryptocurrency blockchain protocol.

With these tokens representing a reported 20% of the roughly $134 million transaction, BrickMark’s acquisition of the property now registers as the largest blockchain token–based real estate transaction in history. “We are breaking new ground for the real estate industry,” BrickMark CEO Stephan Rind said in a release. “There has never been a token-based real estate transaction of this magnitude.”

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The use of a blockchain-backed token is just a gimmick—it’s a dynamic method for securely funding a real estate transaction that woos investors with the prospect of both immediate and more sustainable value. As opposed to a pure cash deal, BrickMark token holders have the opportunity to collect recurring payments of rental income from the 1,600-square-meter property, and the BrickMark tokens potentially become another salable portfolio asset for RFR. While the use of a digital currency might seem baffling, RFR’s willingness to accept tens of millions of dollars worth of payment in BrickMark tokens suggests there’s serious merit to these sorts of deals going forward.

“We gladly accepted the Brickmark tokens as part of the purchase price,” RFR managing director Alexander Koblischek said in conjunction with BrickMark’s announcement. “We assume that digital financial instruments will also significantly gain in importance in the real estate sector in the future. The current transaction may have an icebreaker function for the sector in terms of its volume and institutional character.”

While it’s the largest deal of its kind, this is far from the first time real estate has changed hands in this manner. An early Chinese Bitcoin adopter sold 500 units of the pricey digital currency to buy a San Francisco mansion in 2018. At the height of the 2017 bubble, The Bloody Bay Company would let you only buy 13 acres of land in St. Vincent and the Grenadines using Bitcoin, though it’s unclear if there were any takers before its value tanked.

Some in the real estate business will surely remain skeptical of deals tied to blockchain tech. But if the owner of the Chrysler Building sees the merits of dealing in digital tokens, you can bet that at least some of the big shots in charge of real estate portfolios have already put in a call to their IT team.