With a housing market with low inventory and high prices, real estate agents and sellers want to open as many doors as they can to make it possible to close a transaction. Perhaps that’s part of the reason that Bitcoin real estate transactions are starting to catch on across the United States.

Bitcoin, the world’s leading cryptocurrency and decentralized digital currency (because there is no single repository or administrator), is already accepted by over 100,000 merchants and vendors from retail stores to restaurants, so it only seems natural that real estate would be the next evolution.

According to Kuper Sotheby's International Realty, the first home purchase to be made entirely with Bitcoin closed in September in Austin, Texas. The newly-built home sold for an undisclosed sum, but if we consider that the median sale price in Austin is around $370,600, that would come out to around 108 Bitcoins (one Bitcoin is currently valued at around $3,429).

Meanwhile near Miami, a seven-bedroom home in Coral Gables listed for $6.5 million in August and the owner announced that he would accept Bitcoin for the property. 

Perhaps he heard about the person who sold their home for Bitcoin last year in California and unintentionally made an extra $1 million on the sale when the cryptocurrency’s value jumped from $750 to $1,000 during the transaction.

While not everyone who invests in Bitcoin is wealthy, advertising the potential to use the currency can be seen a way to signal that your property isn’t just luxury, it’s worldly. It’s the kind of news that catches the eye of people far and wide, not just locals.

If you have a lot of faith in the future of Bitcoin, it could also be seen an investment strategy. Instead of converting your earnings to dollars, sellers can hold on to the Bitcoins and hope their value continues to climb as they become more acceptable across the globe.

Of course, not everyone wants to roll the dice too much. Per CNBC, the aforementioned Austin home that was sold required that the Bitcoin was converted into U.S. dollars during the transaction, just in case. There’s also the tricky issue that regulations remain fairly lax in the United State regarding cryptocurrency and how the IRS thinks it should be taxed.

As far as cryptocurrency has come as a legitimate currency to buy a home with, it still has ways to go before everyone feels fully comfortable using it. Until then, brokers and home sellers will always be happy to take your good, old-fashioned cash.