Miami firms now offer home loans in crypto, but many traditional lenders doubt such practice will gain scale.
3 min
Some Miami developers have enabled buyers to purchase homes in cryptocurrency since at least 2021. Now a pair of Miami lenders is going one step further by offering home mortgages in digital currencies.
Milo, a fintech company in the lending business, made the first crypto home loan in March, when it provided a 30-year mortgage in bitcoin for a Miami duplex.
The firm says the early response among other crypto-oriented home buyers has been so enthusiastic that it is already looking to double the size of its Miami office to 100 employees to handle the anticipated demand.
XBTO, another cryptofinance company with offices in Miami, said it is also gearing up to offer crypto mortgages this year, in partnership with a traditional Miami-based mortgage lender.
“Between crypto millionaires who don’t want to sell their cryptocurrency and foreign buyers who have trouble entering the market, we see a huge demand,” says Joe Haggenmiller, head of markets for XBTO.
Kieran Gibbs is one of the newcomers to the city who has expressed interest. The professional soccer player from the U.K. moved to South Florida last year to play for the local Inter Miami CF. He said that he has been receiving half of his salary in bitcoin since January and that he is in talks with XBTO to secure a crypto mortgage.
“I’m renting my property at the moment and I’d like to buy,” Mr. Gibbs said. “The trouble is I haven’t been here for long enough to get enough credit, so it’s difficult for me at the moment to get a mortgage.”
Crypto mortgages are structured much like traditional mortgages and are lent out to home buyers in dollars but are meant to appeal to people who have large crypto holdings they don’t want to convert to dollars.
These mortgages require additional collateral in the form of a cryptocurrency, and the agreements allow the lender to take ownership of the home and the additional collateral in the event of default. If the value of crypto falls, the borrower may have to put up more crypto or other collateral.
Many traditional lenders are sceptical that loans in digital currency will ever gain scale, and analysts list numerous risks and complications when lending in crypto.
For one, they point to the legal pitfalls of engaging in a space that is still largely unregulated. Volatile fluctuations in the price of digital currencies could mean that lenders may require a borrower to put up additional collateral if the crypto price drops significantly.
“Anyone in the digital asset space should proceed with a great degree of caution,” says Richard Levin, an attorney and chair of the fintech and regulation practice at the law firm Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.
Even proponents of these loans say that the new companies are already encountering logistical issues.
“Integrating the legacy mortgage system with the new crypto environment is an operational nightmare,” says Lorenzo Delzoppo, an attorney who specializes in disruptive technology and who is consulting XBTO as they finalize their mortgage product.
Still, he adds, “It’s all incredibly exciting.”
Crypto mortgages are only the latest way that Miami businesses have experimented with the nexus of real estate and digital currencies, a trend that is on display this week during Miami’s bitcoin conference and other crypto-related gatherings.
Propy, a property-tech company whose chief executive resides in Miami, made headlines in February for being the first to process a U.S. real-estate transaction as a nonfungible token, or NFT.
Real-estate developer PMG, in a partnership with the crypto-derivatives exchange FTX, said it has accepted more than $20 million in cryptocurrency payments toward preconstruction purchases of about 60 condo units at its E11even Hotel & Residences.
Lofty, a condo project in Miami’s Brickell district, is providing a digital NFT art piece as an amenity along with the purchase of a unit.
Milo, meanwhile, is offering interest rates for crypto mortgages between about 4% and 6%, which skew a bit higher than what banks tend to charge for dollar-based loans. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.67% last week, according to mortgage-finance company Freddie Mac.
The crypto lender allows borrowers to take out loans of up to 100% of the purchase price by pledging their bitcoin as collateral. XBTO will require purchasers to put down 10%.
Reprinted by permission of The Wall Street Journal, Copyright 2021 Dow Jones & Company. Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Original date of publication: April 5, 2022.
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A&K Sanctuary’s newest Nile vessel, Nile Seray, will launch in October 2026 as Egypt enters a new era of global tourism
2 min
A new luxury riverboat set to sail the Nile from late 2026 has opened for bookings, as Egypt experiences its biggest surge in international tourism in more than a decade following the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum.
Nile Seray, the latest vessel from A&K Sanctuary, will launch in October and operate four-night voyages between Aswan and Luxor.
The boat will accommodate just 64 guests across 32 suites, placing it firmly at the premium end of the fast-expanding Nile cruising market.
The launch coincides with the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in November 2025, a project more than 20 years in the making.
Located near the Giza pyramids, the museum spans more than 480,000 square metres and is now the largest archaeological museum in the world.
It houses more than 100,000 artefacts, including, for the first time ever, the complete collection of King Tutankhamun’s treasures displayed together in one place.
The museum’s opening has been widely credited with transforming global interest in Egypt, driving record visitor numbers and sparking a wave of new hotel openings, aviation capacity and high-end travel investment across the country.
Interior renderings released this week show Nile Seray adopting a contemporary design approach that blends modern lines with heritage references.
The 32 suites feature floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Nile, with natural materials and colour palettes drawing from Egypt’s desert landscape.
Two onboard restaurants open onto deck spaces, while the top deck includes a swimming pool and shaded daybeds designed for daytime cruising and sunset views.
Each voyage will include guided access to key archaeological sites on the West Bank, including the tombs of Seti I and Ramses VI, along with private openings of the tombs of King Tutankhamun and Amenhotep III. Excursions are led by specialist Egyptologists, with daily touring built into the itinerary.
With only 64 guests onboard, the vessel is aimed at travellers seeking a more intimate alternative to the larger Nile cruise ships that dominate the route during peak season.
Luxury hotel availability across Egypt remains tight during busy periods, particularly following the museum’s opening.
Nile Seray becomes the fifth vessel in A&K Sanctuary’s Nile fleet, joining the Nile Adventurer, Sun Boat III, Sun Boat IV and Zein Nile Chateau. A sister ship is also scheduled for launch in 2028.
Voyages include visits to the temples of Luxor, Karnak and Aswan, felucca sailing around Elephantine Island, Egyptian cooking demonstrations and traditional entertainment. All meals, excursions and onboard activities are included.
Each sailing will also contribute to A&K Philanthropy programs in Egypt, including long-running partnerships in Luxor and Aswan focused on youth education and cardiac care.
