Vancouver-based rental platform adds bitcoin as payment form
Bitcoin is now a form of payment for rent on the Vancouver-based rental platform Liv Rent.
The company announced today that tenants can pay their rent with the cryptocurrency while the landlord receives fiat currency.
According to a release, the new payment method works the same as any other form of payment on the platform. But the fees, including a 0.5% liv.rent processing fee, are much lower than the typical credit card fee.
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Landlords can use the platform to issue a payment request, and then tenants can go to the platform and pay with bitcoin. Tenants have two options for payment: pay directly through Coinbase or scan a QR code containing the address of a unique payment request and pay with the cryptocurrency wallet of their choice.
After the tenant pays in bitcoin, the value is transferred and later deposited as Canadian currency into the landlord’s bank account.
Liv Rent states this new payment capability opens landlords to a larger pool of tenants, and provides renters with more choices.
“For those who envision a world with completely decentralized financial systems, this is renting without borders,” reads the release.
“liv.rent hopes that its latest feature will break barriers by giving people a chance to fully embrace cryptocurrencies by using it to pay for rent — one of the basics of life for more than four million Canadian renters. This new bitcoin payment option is also much more affordable than the traditional wire transfer method, therefore alleviating financial barriers that come with renting your first Canadian home.”
As of the time of writing, one bitcoin is worth about CAD $46,525.
The value of bitcoin grew exponentially over the latter half of 2020 and into the first few months of 2021. But over the last two weeks, its value has been on a plummeting trend, after comments by Tesla CEO Elon Musk cast doubt on its future and Chinese regulators signalled they would start cracking down on cryptocurrencies.
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