Two entrepreneurs from the UK - the founder of the Ultimo lingerie brand baroness Michelle Mone and her billionaire partner Douglas Barrowman - have sold 50 luxury apartments in Dubai that they originally promised to put on offer for Bitcoin last September, according to a report published by Business Insider Feb. 10.
The $325 mln luxury development Aston Plaza and Residences was launched in Dubai in September 2017 and is set to be completed by 2020. Upon the announcement of the project, Mone and Barrowman promised to offer 150 out of the 1,300 apartments that comprise ‘Aston’ for Bitcoin.
By February, 50 of those apartments have already been sold, the two entrepreneurs told Business Insider. Michelle Mone added that some of the buyers purchased two apartments each, and one person bought as many as ten.
The property on offer in Bitcoin ranges from studios that cost $130,000 a piece, approximately equal to 15.5 bitcoins at press time, to two-bedroom apartments for $380,000 each or, roughly, 45 bitcoins.
As reported by CNBC last September, the pair originally pledged to sell 150 apartments for Bitcoin, which was the "first major development of this size" to be available for purchase in a digital currency. Barrowman commented that they still receive inquiries but they have not yet released another batch of developments.
On Feb. 6 Business Insider reported about the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of Mone’s and Barrowman’s Equi, a VC investment platform based on Ethereum.