Zinger Key Points
- An episode of "Million Dollar Listing New York" featured a transaction proposed with Bitcoin.
- A look back at the episode and how much the seller could have made if they accepted the Bitcoin.
- Get New Picks of the Market's Top Stocks
Leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin BTC/USD didn't have as much interest in 2015 as it does today, as the price soars to new highs after the 2024 presidential election.
While taking 50,000 Bitcoin for a real estate transaction in 2015 may have proved risky, the homeowner who turned down the deal is likely regretting their decision.
What Happened: Over the years an episode of "Million Dollar Listing New York" has gone viral thanks to the missed profits a person could have had if they had accepted Bitcoin for a real estate deal in 2015, six years after the cryptocurrency launched.
The real estate show, which aired on Comcast Corp CMCSA unit Bravo for nine seasons, featured many real estate transactions over the years.
The one that draws attention from the cryptocurrency community today is the Season 4, Episode 10 airing that was shown on Bravo on June 17, 2015.
In the episode, real estate agent Ryan Serhant is trying to sell a New York two-bed apartment for $13,950,000. The agent gets an offer from a buyer for 50,000 Bitcoin, which was around $13,041,000 at the time.
"You want to pay in Bitcoin?" Serhant asks the prospective buyer.
The episode shows Serhant on speaker with the client, the apartment owner.
"You sent us an offer in Bitcoin? I'll be totally honest with you Ryan, that's not even the biggest problem. This offer's a million dollars below ask!" the seller says.
While taking Bitcoin for real estate may have been more risky in 2015 given less use cases and ways to sell the cryptocurrency, the deal likely never materialized due to being below the listing price.
Fast forward to today and the seller and Serhant are likely having regrets and nightmares about what could have been.
Based on a price of $94,271.82 for Bitcoin at the time of writing, 50,000 Bitcoin is worth $4,713,591,000. This means the $13 million offer could have turned into more than $4.7 billion, which Serhant would have gotten a piece of as commission.
Read Also: If You Bought $1 Worth Of Bitcoin At Launch, Here’s How Much You’d Have Today
Why It's Important: Obviously, the seller and Serhant didn't know how high the price of Bitcoin would go. The episode could serve as a learning lesson that sometimes investments that people don't know as much about can have future value.
Serhant has moved on and after nine seasons of "Million Dollar Listing New York," is also an author. The real estate agent recently starred in "Owning Manhattan," a new real estate show on Netflix Inc NFLX.
The series premiered in June 2024 and a second season has been announced. Here's hoping that some of the transactions on the new show involve cryptocurrency.
Serhant shared a TikTok in February 2021 where it showed a clip from the famous Bitcoin episode. The TikTok titled "Missed Opportunities in the Crypto Market" featured an image of a calculator multiplying 50,000 (for the Bitcoin) by 37,644, which was the price of Bitcoin at the time. The calculator then shows a value of $1,882,200,000.
With an airdate of June 17, 2015, investors who saw the episode and went and did research on Bitcoin and decided to buy could have also profited nicely.
A $1,000 investment could have bought 3.8933 BTC based on a price of $256.85 at the time. The $1,000 investment would be worth $367,028.48 today.
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Photo: MiniStocker via Shutterstock
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