Alberta man to sell house in Bitcoin virtual currency

A Canadian man has listed his house in Alberta for sale by Bitcoin, a virtual currency for which purchases are difficult to trace.

Taylor More listed his home in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta on the website For Sale By Owner at $405,000 but he told the BBC that he would sell it for the equivalent in Bitcoins. The online currency is a growing trend, letting people buy goods and services without physically reaching into their wallets.

PizzaforCoins.com made headlines in 2010 when a man paid the website 10,000 Bitcoins for pizza.

[ Related: Bitcoin digital currency site to operate like bank in France ]

Or for some of us, Bitcoins are the kind of baffling futuristic concept that makes us feel like technology is whizzing past, leaving us in the dust of history. You use paper money? Get outta town.

People can 'mine' Bitcoins using their computers as part of the network that supports them. No underground elevators or environmental assessments required.

More told the BBC he wanted the Bitcoins for projects he's hoping to start but he did not specify what the projects were or why he would need a truckload of virtual money to launch them.

He said they could make Bitcoins a more widely used currency.

This isn't the first Bitcoin real estate offer. A Toronto office space rental company accepts the currency, according to its website.

Before he celebrates, More will have to find someone with enough virtual currency to afford the property. The Bitcoin's current exchange rate in Canada puts the property's cost at about 5786 Bitcoins.

However, More told arstechnica that he would also consider reducing the price of the house for someone willing to pay partially with Bitcoins.

[ Related: Canadians among top buyers, sellers on illegal drug website Silk Road ]

As arstecnhica noted, the man who bought those pizzas in 2010 is probably wishing he'd saved his online cash for something better, like maybe a house.