Bitcoin Forum

Example I buy a house from a seller, how can I protect myself if I want to use Bitcoin as payment currency? That's real problem because he might not give me the house or cancel the things when I already sent him BTC.

How do you protect yourself if you make a cash payment?

You go to the police, take legal action, etc... just because it involves cryptocurrencies doesn't mean there's no way of recourse when used as a means of payment for a traditional transaction. Your local laws still apply. Of course, in some cases -- eg. anonymous online trades -- enforceability of said laws is difficult, but I guess you wouldn't buy a house from an anonymous online source.

Either way, even when paying for real estate using traditional bank transfers there's usually an escrow (eg. an impartial notary) involved -- at least in Europe, from what I've gathered. Things may look differently in the US or wherever you live. I guess when paying with cryptocurrencies it would make sense to follow the same route.

No. The whole motivation for Bitcoin to exist is to free it from the government and any other factors that could affect the currency. If its decentralised, there shouldn't be any mechanism built-in such that the users cannot choose who should be the intermediary.

You can't attempt to change Bitcoin's very fundamental values. If you do, you're creating an altcoin. You can get an intermediary with a trusted party and multi-sig but that's pretty much it.

As HeRetik says, local laws apply.

This is how you confuse Bitcoin as a means of exchange and real estate purchase as a commercial activity. It should matter very little to the government what buyer and seller have agreed to exchange as property, this will all should be specified in a legal contract recognised in your jurisdictions. You could buy the house for dog poop for all the government cares, if you both have a legally binding agreement.

Get a simple lawyer to draft up the agreements and act as witness when you both sign. If the seller reneges on his deal, you're protected by the law's recognition of your rights to claim, based on the contract.

When you buy that house, there will be a binding contract drawn up by your lawyers. The payment method is the only thing

that changed and the signed contract is the legal and binding factor in this transaction. If you do this without a legal

document, then Bitcoin {currency} is not to be blamed. The same rules apply as with any other transaction, be it cash or

trading of assets.  ::) ... If one of the entities fail to deliver on the contract, it will be taken to local courts. {this is where the

local laws and government protection comes in}

Thank all. However, as you said, local laws apply. In this case, using BTC still does not bring us advantages over fiat. Somehow it can be faster and less risk related to bank system but the overall process become more complicated.

Buying a house is made at a Notary.

The method of payment is put in the contract and it can be attached the receipt of the payment.

I think all you have to do is to take your risk to change your BTC into cash first before you make any transactions of buying a house because maybe the seller would not agreed if you will pay him in Btc.

what you are asking has nothing to do with bitcoin and the process is not at all complicated. you are overthinking it.
when you buy a house you are making a trade, you pay money and receive something in return. this money can be in form of digital money (a wire transfer from your bank, a check,...), traditional physical fork (cash), cryptocurrency (bitcoin), some other item with equal value (gold, another house in exchange, car(s), yacht, herd of sheep,...), .... in the end the medium of exchange doesn't matter as long as you are making a contract promising to pay an amount and receiving the house in return.
if either party in this contract doesn't honor it, they can be prosecuted by the law.

What exactly you needed is a lawyer. Transaction between you and the seller will be written down in law. By doing it, you will be protected from scam and for sure you will be getting the house. Bitcoin has value, even if bitcoin only existed on the internet, it doesn't it that it cannot be protected by law.

If you pay him through the cash the same thing also can happen so how governments will save you by police right,the same can be done here too.But you can do one thing is Escrowsa middle man independent of both buyer and seller once the transaction initiated the buyer have to transfer the amount to escrow wallet and when the seller finished all paper works then the escrow release the coins to the seller so now both are safe.

When you prepare an agreement then enter both your and seller bitcoin address in the paper and say that you will send bitcoins from this stated address to your seller address. If that is clearly mentioned then you can always prove that you sent money to seller in-case if you say didn't receive money.

I don't think that you will buy a house from an anonymous person online and mostly this deal will happen face to face so you deal it similar to cash exchange with some extra steps to prove that those coins belong to you and you sent to the seller.

The simpler method is to sell Bitcoin in the market, and then take your money to buy a house. Is fiat currency not equivalent to an intermediary here? You use Bitcoin to buy a house. If there is a dispute, you have to prove that you paid for Bitcoin and the value of Bitcoin paid is measurable. This is actually a very troublesome thing. So there is no need to think that Bitcoin can be used on any occasion.

If you buy a house and make payment by Bitcoin and the seller confirms the payment there will be no problem. Just sign the papers and have fun :) But you'll have to pay your taxes in local currency unless your government accepts Bitcoin ;)

I does not think it can be protected by the government for now. Maybe in the future it will like creating a contract specially for cryptos, from what i know buying of property indeed have a contract but it is more catered to the "cash terms" and i does not think government will put in any effort if something goes wrong as crypto is not their problem. All this boils down to the person or the agent you using to buy a house if he decided to be a good agent all your worries will not exist but if you meet a bad one he decide to take the money and run.

Bitcoin masih bisa bebas bertransaksi dengan mata uang tersebut. Hanya saja, tidak ada perlindungan hukum apabila terjadi kasus-kasus seperti pencurian atau penipuan yang melibatkan virtual currency itu. Inilah bahaya Bitcoin yang harus siap dihadapi oleh investor.
perubahan teknologi, Bitcoin bukanlah masalah melainkan potensi besar.
Itu yang saya tahu.

Yes, the best option to avoided to avoid whether government will protect or not is to convert your bitcoin into your local currency. This keeps you away from any trouble but you can also buy it wilt bitcoin from someone who understands bitcoin and is ready to do that. Better again both parties, you and the seller can get witnesses to witness the transaction. In that case the government will be on your side because there was a mutual agreement.

for this reason, the regulation is being created. Once crypto is fully regulated in your country, you will be able to buy house with crypto. I'm pretty sure in Japan this is already possible

From my own experience in buying a property their is a document that needs to be signed by both seller and the buyer, simply if you are a buyer and you want to pay via bitcoin you can included in the documents and state that the payment is made via bitcoin in this way the transaction is biding and legal and applicable to the local laws of which it is applied.

Bitcoin can still be free to trade with the currency. However, there is no legal protection in cases of theft or fraud involving the virtual currency. This is the danger of Bitcoin that investors must be prepared to face.
from technological change, Bitcoin is not a problem but a great potential.

For now, no way government authority can protect bitcoin users, bitcoin is not under control of any government authority, and is not legal in some countries, government can only    protect  what they have control of.

more strict KYC procedures, i guess?

Yes, you can be bound by lawyer. Having a written contract would be the answer. Therefore, you can be protected by government.