Bitcoin digital currency is accepted as rent payment
Two apartment complexes in eastern Idaho are accepting rent payment in Bitcoin.
Edgecreek Property Management, based in Utah, manages two properties in eastern Idaho. In Utah, tenants are paying with Bitcoin, in Idaho although the apartment complexes accept Bitcoin, tenants have not been using it.
The company thinks if more people know about Bitcoin, more people will start using it.
Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency, a digital currency that anyone can buy online. Today one Bitcoin is equal to $587.39.
“Money is just a medium of exchange, it can come in the form of paper, or credit cards like Visa and Master Card or it can come in the form of a Bitcoin,” said Chrisopher Carr with Edgecreek Property Management.
The company accepts Bitcoin at each of their properties.
“Yes, company wide we accept Bitcoin,” said Carr.
The company manages Liberty Square Apartments in Ammon, which is mostly senior living and Mountain Pines Apartments in Rexburg, which is student housing for women at BYU-Idaho.
“Rents are very affordable here, and so it would be around a Bitcoin or 1.3 Bitcoin, or 1.4 Bitcoin,” said Carr.
So far not many tenants are using Bitcoin.
“Today, only a small fraction, a handful,” said Carr.
Bitcoins are bought online and can be connected to an existing bank account. People can convert real dollars to Bitcoin and then store them in a digital wallet.
Transactions can be made directly from one person to another without going through a bank.
Carr said that’s what he likes about the currency.
“It makes me feel happy, I have an alternative. I feel something that it is more stable and secure because there is no governmental involvement,” said Carr.
A key difference between the dollar and Bitcoin, the dollar can be printed, but there’s a limit to Bitcoin, 21 million.
Around 11 million Bitcoin are in circulation in 2014. In order to get more into virtual circulation what’s called mining has to happen.
Miners use computers to solve complex math problems. When they solve the problems correctly more bit coins get put into circulation, but with each new batch, the program’s code makes it harder to solve the math problems which times out the bit coin supply.
Popular websites which have been selling items to buy using Bitcoin, many have recently shutdown which has some consumers wondering if the currency will be stay unregulated by the government.
