Christie’s Brokerage Firm Launches New Crypto Real Estate Division: Report

Luxury brokerage Christie’s International Real Estate, affiliated with the renowned Christie’s auction house, has unveiled a dedicated crypto division.

The firm has created a specialized team of lawyers, analysts, and crypto experts to handle digital asset transactions, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

Christie’s CEO Aaron Kirman said that the division was launched after closing several high-profile crypto transactions. One notable deal involved the purchase of a $65 million property in Beverly Hills using Bitcoin.

“The trend was obvious — crypto is here to stay. It’s only going to get bigger over the next few years,” Kirman told the Times. The crypto division will facilitate high-value real estate deals without banks or fiat.

Christie’s $1B Worth Real Estate Portfolio

Kirman said that he now has a portfolio of homes worth more than $1 billion, whose sellers are willing to accept crypto. Included in the portfolio is Invisible House in Joshua Tree, priced at about $18 million with a design featuring reflective walls.

According to Kirman, crypto could account for more than one-third of all residential property sales in the US within five years.

Chris Hanley, the owner of Invisible House said that crypto payments “signals an openness to innovative buyers,” including crypto millionaires looking for real-world assets to diversify.

Crypto Milestone Signals ‘Speculative to Serious’ Portfolio Shift

The crypto space is experiencing a trifecta of regulatory clarity, macro easing, and corporate adoption, driving institutional adoption.

The shift is pushing crypto from speculative asset to serious portfolio contender, James Harris, the newly appointed CEO of Tesseract Group of digital asset firms, told Cryptonews.

“The recent U.S. ‘Crypto Week’ breakthroughs — especially the passage of the GENIUS Act (now signed into law) and the movement of the CLARITY and Anti-CBDC bills through Congress — have acted as a major catalyst,” Harris noted. “These developments mark a shift away from regulation-by-enforcement and toward clear, supportive frameworks, which has emboldened institutional investors.”

Further, broader economic conditions and corporate treasuries are also helping push crypto as a natural beneficiary, he added.