High-grade marble sourced from one country just wouldnât do for former casino owner Jack Sommer.
His Las Vegas mansion, a luxurious 25,000 square-foot home which features a Jacuzzi in its staff quarters, yes â staff quarters, is adorned with metamorphic rock sourced from China, Iceland and Brazil.
The house also contains a âsecretâ garden and the books in its library rest upon American cherry wood shelves.
Now the mansion up for grabs, and you can pay with bitcoin â well, if you happen to have $7.85m worth of the currency, that is.
Sommer, who previously owned The Aladdin casino resort in Las Vegas (now the Planet Hollywood casino resort), decided to offer the property to bitcoin buyers as a means of attracting publicity after a suggestion from his sons, who are both keen bitcoiners.
The entrepreneur told the Las Vega Review-Journal:
âThe advantage is that weâre expanding our market and adding some notoriety.â
The property, which is situated within a gated community on a golf course, has been on the market since the beginning of October, according to the property listing.
His sons have mined, stockpiled and traded bitcoin, using the currency to âbuy computers, software and other equipment,â the Las Vegas Review-Journal added.
Earlier this year, Canadian Taylor More tried to sell his home in Alberta for bitcoin.
His 2.9-acre property was listed at CA$405,000 (US$382,616), with a discount for those paying with bitcoin. CNET Australia said the property looked like âa great opportunity for someone whoâs looking for a fixer-upperâ.
Just this month, another property in Alberta was listed with bitcoin as a payment option. According to the National Post, the CA$1m (US$944,733)Â property in Red Deer includes:
âA four-bedroom, two-bathroom home complete with greenhouse, a secret room accessible via a walk-through closet and a private forest.â
Yes, you can now buy your own private forest with bitcoin. According to the property listing, the master bedroom has room for âtwo king sized beds, a sitting area and office spaceâ, which means that itâs probably bigger than most London flats.
But although Sommerâs Las Vegas mansion isnât the first property to list bitcoin as a payment option, it is certainly the most lavish. Sommer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: âThis house was an exercise in how many cool details we could put in.â
Although it doesnât have a private forest, its does have a 120-ton cooling tower that supplies air conditioning to the property, as well as a 2,000 square-foot guest house where Anna Nicole Smith once shot a film.
Sommer and his wife, Laura, are downsizing now their seven children have flown the coop, according to AP.
In practice, using bitcoin to buy the property could prove tricky â due to the continued volatility in its price. Julian Tosh, owner of bitcoinsinvegas.com, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
âIf the value is changing 30% a day, how do you quantify that in a contract and expect each side to hold on for 30 to 90 days while escrow clears.â
But with the asking price at almost $8m, very few bitcoin fans will be able to afford it. And hey, who would actually want to buy it? It doesnât even have a private forest â¦
Las Vegas image via Shutterstock