A Dubai based real estate company DAMAC properties have performed cryptocurrency transactions worth $50 million in real estate deals since the beginning of 2022. The information was revealed by the company’s chief operating officer (COO) Ali Sajwani during an interview given to Alroeya, an Emirati newspaper.
During a conversation, the COO stated that the DAMAC properties have a very long-term plan in the real estate sector and accepting cryptocurrency payments such as bitcoin or Ethereum is demonstrating the company’s potential plans and utilising the advantage of the most sophisticated technology solutions.
Cryptocurrency payment through financial intermediary
As per the COO, the company utilised the services of a trustworthy financial intermediary authorised by the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the ‘Heaven’ company as a payment solution to handle the cryptocurrency transactions. The intermediary received the payment from the customer for the property in bitcoin or Ethereum. After it the payment intermediary transfers the proportion of the amount in the company’s account in terms of dirhams or dollars.
He highlighted the importance of an intermediary in payment transactions as by using a reputable financial intermediary, the DAMAC Properties was able to reduce the risk of price volatility.
DAMAC Properties Metaverse plans
Sajwani informed about the Metaverse project of DAMAC Properties and stated that the company has three important phases. The company is targeting to complete the first phase in 2022 and in the first phase, the company is focusing only on those properties that the company owns in its portfolio. Second phase will be initiated in the beginning of 2023 and in that phase the company’s focus would be on the virtual assets that it intends to build in the world of DAMAC’s Metaverse Group. In the third phase, the company intends to combine actual and virtual reality.
The COO also discussed the obstacles faced by DAMAC Properties for entering into the metaverse. The key challenge is to convince the old generation of decision-makers to take swift and decisive actions to invest in this new and alien environment. Furthermore, because the metaverse, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies are still relatively new, prospective users must first become familiar with them. According to the COO, it means that decision-makers will need to do an extensive survey or study before they can begin investing. He hoped that with the passing of time and the transmission of more information about Metaverse and the possibilities it presents, the industry may expect greater growth and expansion in Metaverse industry as well as in other sectors such as real estate.
According to some estimates there is a growing interest among various corporations, institutional investors and others to invest in this virtual world. The Metaverse industry is estimated to be worth between $8 and $13 trillion by 2030 and would impact around 5 billion people.
Real estate plans of the DAMAC group
Since its founding, the company has been able to deliver 39.4 thousand housing units, and it currently owns approximately 28 thousand units in various stages of planning and construction. In 2022, the company has plans to deliver approximately 6000 to 7000 units. It has further purchased a $120 million worth of land block in Miami’s Surfside neighbourhood in USA for creating a luxury property there.
