Leading luxury real estate developer DAMAC Properties has announced that the company is stepping up to serve the digital economy by facilitating the conversion to fiat, and the sale of property to holders of Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to a company's press release, the decision comes from the DAMAC Group’s vision of leveraging technology to provide innovative solutions to evolved customers.

Being one of the first developers to facilitate the purchase of property by customers carrying cryptocurrency, DAMAC is set to revolutionise the future of real estate. This will bolster DAMAC’s efforts of providing convenience and optionality to real estate investors worldwide.

Speaking on the occasion – Ali Sajwani, General Manager of Operations at DAMAC and lead of the organisation’s digital transformation initiatives, said:

DAMAC Properties has always been at the forefront of innovations from developing luxury homes to creating unique experiences. This move towards customers holding cryptocurrency is one of our initiatives at DAMAC to accelerate the new economy for newer generations, and for the future of our industry.

Crypto assets shed nearly $800 billion in market value over the past month, touching a low of $1.4 trillion on Tuesday, according CoinMarketCap and reported by NBC News. Digital asset prices have slumped, mirroring a plunge in equities, on fears of aggressive interest rate hikes around the globe to stave off decades-high inflation.

Bitcoin hit a 10-month low earlier on Tuesday, before rebounding to $31,450, just six days after touching $40,000, reaching more than 54 percent below its November all-time high of $69,000.

Total crypto market value was at $2.2 trillion on April 2, well off of its all-time peak of $2.9 trillion in early November, as per CoinMarketCap.

Luxury retail giant, Gucci, is set to roll out cryptocurrency payment option in select US stores at the end of this month, Vogue Business reports. 

In-store crypto payments will be made with a link sent via email to the customer; the link contains a QR code that allows them to execute the payment from their crypto wallet. The first Gucci stores to take crypto are Wooster Street in New York, Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, Miami Design District, Phipps Plaza in Atlanta and The Shops at Crystals in Las Vegas. Gucci will accept payments in more than 10 currencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Wrapped Bitcoin, Litecoin, Shiba Inu and five stablecoins pegged to the US dollar. 

Gucci is always looking to embrace new technologies when they can provide an enhanced experience for our customers, said Marco Bizzarri, Gucci president and CEO, in a statement. “Now that we are able to integrate cryptocurrencies within our payment system, it is a natural evolution for those customers who would like to have this option available to them.”

Gucci has recently built out a Web3-focused team, and has purchased and is developing digital real estate on The Sandbox, a blockchain-based real estate platform in which Adidas and Al Dente, among others, are also developing land. 

ِAccording to a Reuters report, private equity investors are stampeding towards crypto projects - blockchain-based apps and platforms fuelled by cryptocurrencies.

VC investment in cryptocurrency projects totalled $10 billion globally in the first quarter of 2022, the largest quarterly sum ever and more than double the level seen in the same period a year ago.

Such projects, which can range from crypto and NFT exchanges to decentralized finance applications and token issuers, are often known as protocols in reference to the rules embedded in their computer code.

You're seeing a lot of VC investment into a lot of protocols because they all believe, as we do, that some of these protocols are the infrastructure of the future, said Steve Ehrlich, CEO of Voyager Digital.

The president’s office of the Central African Republic has confirmed rumors that that the country has adopted bitcoin as legal tender, becoming the first African country to do so and second in the world`after El Salvador.

Lawmakers unanimously adopted a bill that made bitcoin legal tender alongside the CFA franc and legalised the use of cryptocurrencies.

President Faustin Archange Touadera signed the measure into law, his chief of staff Obed Namsio said in a statement.

The CAR is the first country in Africa to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, Namsio said.

This move places the Central African Republic on the map of the world's boldest and most visionary countries, he declared.

Dogecoin (DOGE) surged by 9% yesterday after Twitter board confirmed they are close to accepting Elon Musk bid to purchase the entirety of Twitter at $54.20 a share.

According to CoinDesk, Dogecoin's analysts believe price and Musk’s imminent takeover of Twitter are not directly correlated.

“The speculation is that advertisers could be able to pay DOGE for ads and for other uses on Twitter,” Kryptomon Chief Marketing Officer Tomer Nuni explained to CoinDesk earlier this month. “We have seen the same happening when Tesla revealed the ability to pay for its goods with DOGE. So the speculation could be around Musk’s businesses and stakeholdings starting to accept crypto, as Tesla does.”

Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2021

Tesla already accepts DOGE payments on its online merchandise store. Musk also stated that he was working with dogecoin developers to improve system efficiency.