Converting Crypto for a Property Deposit: What the Solicitor Required

We tested a crypto-funded property deposit end to end, converting through a regulated provider and settling to a solicitor’s client account. The benchmark throughout is a regulated crypto payment provider with fiat settlement, which discloses enough to check the arithmetic.

The sequence

Agree the arrangement with the solicitor. Convert through the provider. Provider settles to the client account. Solicitor confirms receipt and satisfies their own obligations.

Total elapsed time from initiating the conversion to funds confirmed in the client account: under four hours, on a weekday, within the instant euro scheme.

Compared with a conventional international transfer for the same purchase, which would have been three to four days.

What the solicitor asked for, before agreeing

Which provider, and their regulatory authorisation. They verified it themselves.

Confirmation that funds would arrive from the provider in the buyer’s name, not from a third party.

Evidence of the source of the crypto.

The source of funds pack

Four documents satisfied it.

Evidence of acquisition: the original purchase records from an exchange, showing date, amount and the fiat paid.

Statements from where the crypto had been held, showing ownership.

The conversion record from the provider, showing crypto in and fiat out with the rate.

The transfer confirmation.

Assembled in advance, this took one exchange of emails. We were told that assembled afterwards it commonly takes weeks.

What nearly went wrong

The crypto had been held for several years, part of it through a platform that no longer operates.

We had exported statements while it still existed. Without those, establishing provenance for that portion would have been extremely difficult. For client-money cases the requirements differ, and crypto rails built for fintech companies is structured for them.

Anyone anticipating a property purchase funded this way should export records from every venue they have used, now, rather than when asked.

The tax point

The conversion was a disposal, with a gain calculated against the original acquisition cost.

For an asset held a long time, that liability arrives at the same moment as the deposit. It needs to be in the budget, and it was not in the first version of ours.

The arrangement that made it work

Agreeing with the solicitor before making an offer. A firm that has not agreed to receive from a crypto provider will decline on the day, and the day is when a deadline exists.

The provider’s willingness to settle directly to a client account in the buyer’s name was the other requirement. Not all providers will. Coverage decided more of our results than any feature did. a support channel with a named contact publishes its country list.