Knox Group launches Dubai properties payable in Bitcoin

The Knox Group of Companies, headquartered in the Isle of Man, announced late yesterday that it planned to launch a residential and commercial property development in Dubai valued at £250 million ($325 million), with residences that can be purchased in the digital currency Bitcoin.

According to the company, the 2.4 million-square-foot (22.3-hectare) property venture called Aston Plaza and Residences, consisting of two residential towers and a shopping mall, will be the first major real estate development to accept payment in virtual currency.

According to commentators, the Dubai project is a step toward mainstreaming bitcoin. The digital currency which was initially ridiculed, hit a record high of $4,870 on Friday, surging over 400 per cent so far this year.

The completion of the project is expected by late 2019.

''This a great opportunity for the crypto-currency community to offload some of its significant gains, especially the early adopters, and actually deploy them in hard-core assets which I'm building,'' Knox's chairman, Doug Barrowman, said in an interview with Reuters.

Barrowman, who hails from Scotland, founded Knox in 2008. Knox engages in private equity, property and wealth management and manages £1.5 billion in assets, he added.

The Dubai venture is a collaboration with Baroness Michelle Mone's, Dubai-registered Aston Property Ventures. Mone is also a member of the House of Lords and founder of the lingerie company Ultimo.

Initially 150 apartments will be offered for purchase from a total 750, ranging from studio apartments priced at $169,000 - currently around 30 bitcoins - to two-bedroom apartments priced at $380,000, or around 85 bitcoins.

Mone said, ''I am thrilled to be launching a project of this scale as a step in the property development business. This is also a natural progression from the launch of Michelle Mone Interiors – bringing together my two passions in business for the first time; design and property.''