Christie’s Shakes Up Real Estate: New Crypto Division Targets Blockchain Property Boom

Wall Street’s latest love affair? Tokenized brownstones. Christie’s just placed its bet.

The 258-year-old brokerage—better known for peddling Picassos to oligarchs—is launching a crypto real estate division, according to insider reports. Because nothing says ‘diversification’ like slinging digital deeds between NFT auctions.

Bricks meet blockchain

Forget deeds in triplicate. The new arm will reportedly focus on property transactions settled in crypto—likely targeting high-net-worth clients who’d rather pay in ETH than endure a 45-day escrow. Early whispers suggest partnerships with proptech platforms to streamline tokenized sales.

Why now?

Global crypto real estate deals surged 400% last quarter (not that anyone’s counting). With luxury buyers increasingly fluent in digital assets, Christie’s seems keen to capture commissions before Sotheby’s hacks its next bored ape.

One question remains: Will they accept payment in memecoins when the bubble pops?

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.