Australians can now buy luxury cars with crypto via CoinSpot: What’s the catch?
Dutton Garage and CoinSpot have teamed up to allow Australians to buy cars with cryptocurrency for the first time. CoinSpot's OTC system is addressing the 1 big catch.
Melbourne-based prestige car dealer Dutton Garage has partnered with CoinSpot to enable Australians to purchase cars with cryptocurrency for the first time.
Using CoinSpot's over-the-counter trading desk (OTC) service allows prospective buyers to use over 30 cryptocurrencies to purchase the used luxury cars it has for sale. These include Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The CoinSpot OTC service provides an additional layer of confidence when performing high-volume transactions of over AUD$50,000 as it doesn't require traditional public order books which limit exposure to market fluctuations.
Iconic Australian muscle cars like this 2017 HSV GTS R will now be available to buy with cryptocurrency from Dutton Garage. (Image: Supplied)
What's the benefit of using cryptocurrency for car buyers and dealerships?
CoinSpot notes that this partnership was borne from the strong demand from Australian customers to purchase luxury items such as vehicles using cryptocurrency, with partnerships like this legitimising digital currencies as a means of purchasing high-value items.
CoinSpot chief product officer Gary Howells acknowledged this, saying, "As Australians continue to look for more ways to find value in their crypto investments, CoinSpot's partnership with Dutton Garage symbolises our commitment to expanding the utility of crypto.
"With Web3, digital currencies are becoming more than just stores of value, and instead, legitimate ways to purchase big-ticket items, whether that's a Bored Ape non-fungible token (NFT) via CoinSpot's NFT marketplace or buying a Porsche 911 with Bitcoin from Dutton Garage.
"Increasing crypto's utility is the key to driving mass adoption of what we believe is the future of finance. This partnership is only the beginning of CoinSpot's ability to facilitate transactions within the luxury goods market."
In addition to better enabling Dutton Garage's customers to access their crypto investments and use them for large transactions, this move also gives them and any other high-end car retailers who make the same move another finance option for customers beyond cash, credit and buy now pay later services.
Dutton Garage notes that for customers interested in purchasing a vehicle using crypto, the process will involve speaking with one of its sales associates who will then coordinate the transaction with a dedicated account manager from CoinSpot.
Cryptocurrency is something the builders of this beautiful 1954 Lancia Aurelia – currently for sale at Dutton Garage – likely wouldn't have even thought possible. (Image: Supplied)
What's the catch and how has CoinSpot addressed it?
The constantly fluctuating value of cryptocurrencies relative to traditional fiat currencies (such as the Australian or United States dollar) is something that may deter individuals from using cryptocurrency for large purchases in particular.
However, CoinSpot's OTC service mitigates these market changes through lock-in pricing, which mitigates any sudden market fluctuations around the purchase time.
The OTC service also provides direct access to professional trading brokers for all enquiries, meaning customers run less risk when making transactions of such large sums.
The OTC service can only be used for transactions worth at least AUD$50,000, which does limit what can be purchased with this lock-in pricing guarantee. However, this minimum does make the service ideal for purchasing something like the cars Dutton Garage has on offer.
Given this constant market fluctuation makes putting an exact crypto value on any of the cars that Dutton Garage does have for sale, we can only provide an estimate based on market values at the time of publication.
Using a Porsche 911 as an example – as Howells also did – this 2020 911 Carrera, priced at AUD$319,990, would be worth approximately 5.6 BTC or 74.4 ETH as at the time of publication (based off simplified, rounded-up rates of 1 BTC equalling AUD$57,000 and 1 ETH equalling AUD$4,300).
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