Vegas developer to sell $7.85 million home in bitcoins

A casino owner-turned-commercial developer  selling a Las Vegas home for $ 7.85 million is willing to accept the online currency bitcoin for the deal, Associated Press reported.

According to Jack Somner, the idea to seek bitcoin for his 25,000-square-foot mansion came to him from two of his sons, who had been involved in making and trading the currency.

He said the advantage was that they were expanding their market and adding some notoriety.

Bitcoin peer-to-peer trading got under way in 2009. The purchase of value happens through an exchange website with a mainstream paper currency, such as dollars or euros, though the trading is not government-regulated.

AP quoted Julian Tosh, a consultant and owner of the marketplace website bitcoinsinvegas.com as saying, using the currency could streamline international business deals.

He said, there were people who had bitcoins, were dying for a place to spend it.

He added, a global audience could open up for the home thanks to Sommer's willingness to accept bitcoin.

With increased awareness of potential buyers, new markets could be tapped, he added.

Sommer had put a lot of work into the home in the posh Spanish Trail Country Club, which features marble from China, Iceland and Brazil, a full basement, staff quarters with Jacuzzis, and a secret garden to boot.

The home has 39 air conditioning zones fed from a 120-ton cooling tower.

According to Somner, he and his wife, Laura considered the additions they had made to the home "an exercise in how many cool details we could put in." He added, they were now downsizing as their seven children had grown and moved out.

According to Sommer's sales agent, Craig Tann, of Prudential American Group's Estates of Las Vegas team, the home might be the first in southern Nevada to be formally marketed around bitcoin.

The currency is accepted by a range of businesses, with a California Lamborghini dealership selling a $103,000-Tesla to a Florida man for 91.4 bitcoin, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, and a Canadian man listing his Alberta home for the bitcoin equivalent of $405,000.

The currency's high point came earlier this month when Bank of America Merrill Lynch said  that one bitcoin could have a maximum value of $1,300, or more than the price of an ounce of gold.