Crypto Megan Podcast | Propy: Powering the OnChain Real Estate Revolution

My name is Megan Nelson, AKA Crypto Megan, coming to you live from Bitcoin Vegas. It has been an absolutely fantastic conference. Things are going fantastic here. I've got an amazing guest on the show today, Eric, the Chief Revenue Officer at Propy. We're going to hear all about what Propy is doing, which I'm so excited for. Eric, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm really excited to be here.

Yeah, your energy is just amazing. I mean, Wow. And we were just talking about how people are so happy at the Bitcoin conference, right?

I know. With all this gambling, you would think that people would be a little more sad, but everyone's— the energy's high and everyone's feeling fantastic.

Could it be that we're at all-time highs for Bitcoin and things are starting to look up for the market?

Things are looking good for crypto right now.

Yeah.

Right. And so I think that that's— everyone's in a good mood.

Oh yeah.

Even the speakers too, that conference. Oh yeah. There's such great keynotes.

Oh yeah. We just had one from Vice President JD Vance yesterday, I believe it was. Yep. Uh, you couldn't ask for more. That could you have, could you have imagined that we were going to have vice presidents and future presidents speaking at this conference?

Wow.

At a crypto conference.

Wild.

I mean, could you have imagined that just earlier this year?

Well, not this year.

Earlier last year, I would say.

There was 2 years ago, RFK Jr. spoke at the Bitcoin conference in Miami.

Right.

That was the first time I ever heard him speak, but he wasn't, I don't think he was. I'm not sure if he actually said that he was running for president yet.

I don't think so. Yeah.

So it was just, you know, then it was just a Kennedy.

Right. But still cool.

Way cool.

Wow.

Wow.

Yeah. So things are looking, looking fantastic in the market and I'm really excited for what Propy is doing. I've been involved with you guys now for a few years and you're just an OG in the space too. I mean, that's something that speaks for itself. Propy's been out since 2017, right?

Yeah.

I mean, for those who don't know, just tell us briefly what Propy does.

Yeah. So we are in the real estate space. We are the first company to have ever Transacted real estate using cryptocurrency. We were the first ever to NFT a real property, and we were the first one to have ever recorded a real estate deed on blockchain.

Wow. I mean, that's a lot of first evers.

Well, when we're talking about, and we're talking, I know, right? And we keep, and we keep going.

Yeah.

I know you guys keep going with first evers, but when I tell people that we did all of this, right. And we figured out the systems and we figured out the processes and the, of how to do this real estate transaction. And what we've done is this 30-day transaction we're so used to when we're buying and selling houses, right? You know, we figured out how to do it in under 24 hours. And so when I tell people we did this 7 years ago, almost 8 years ago now, they're just like, wait, what? Like, they don't understand. They're like, I didn't even know that that was a thing any back then, you know? And so we've been in this space for a while.

Oh yeah. And it's just a testament to if you're actually solving real-world problems that you're out there building, you're actually delivering on that and building up this infrastructure, it will pay off over time. I mean, you guys are taking over. I hear about Propy every other day in the news right now. I mean, you guys are just doing such innovative things. And I remember back when the home sold in Florida, it was right?

Mm-hmm.

NFT-backed sold home. And people were like, wow, this is, this, we thought this was not gonna be here for another 5, 10 years.

Right.

But here you guys are actually doing it and distinguishing yourself from those, the hype and the speculation. I mean, it almost feels like sometimes projects get penalized if they're actually building. Because the, the speculation of, uh, the element of speculation is gone then. And actually you're delivering and people are realizing, wow, this is a thing. And yet there's so many projects coming out and people are speculating and they kind of fizzle away, uh, within the year or less. Right. And then we have Propy who's been around since 2017. So for me, it's, it's, uh, I'm really passionate about the space obviously. And it's really cool to see that.

Yeah, I know. We've always, and I, and I, and I, I really mean this is we do such a great job at just predicting of where the future of real estate's going to be. And we just go do it.

Right.

You know, I think that's where we've really made our most success is that we have these ideas and we just go and do it.

Right. And, and you just execute on it. Yeah. And you consistently build, just, just persistence pays off, man. I've seen it. It's hard, right? Like you've gotta coordinate with a lot of people, a lot of old hired systems, right? That we're trying to update here. And yet this is the future. it's happening now. And you guys are just a spitting image of what could, what the space could look like if we implement the technology properly and how it can just make people's lives so much easier and so much better. I mean, wow. So the first Bitcoin-backed loan to buy a property, tell us about how that went down. That was huge news.

Yeah, it was really cool. Um, it was in Hawaii on the island of Oahu and it was a, it's a condo. $250,000. And so the owner of the condo wanted to NFT the project. Like, he's the one that wanted to do this, right? And came to us.

Right.

So of course we're like, yeah, let's do it. Let's see, how do we just do this? And so we did it. We NFT'd the property. We put it on auction. We had a, I believe it was a 72-hour auction, but everything was done by smart contracts, right? So Um, if anyone wanted to bid on the property, they had to go through the KYC and AML and proof of funds, right? They had to source their funds and all of that, just as normal. Um, once they were in and they, they got approved, they put money and deposits into smart contracts, right? And they were able to bid. And so at the end of the auction, as soon as the auction ended, whoever was the highest bidder, smart contracts engaged, Funds got released, and ownerships exchanged hands instantly.

Wow.

And so, this all happened on actually on a Saturday when real estate—

When everything else is closed.

I know.

Traditional markets, right?

I know.

This is, that is huge. That's really big. Congratulations on that. I mean, I know that that's shocking to a lot of people, but this is just going to be, I believe, truly believe that next, just part of our lives embedded in the way that we do things from here on out. Very, very soon in the very near future.

Yep.

Uh, faster than people might think.

Well, the, the, the cool thing about that specific one was yes, the engaging of the, of how the transaction itself, how it unfolded was amazing. Right. That's how the future of real estate should be.

Right. Okay.

But what's really significant about this is that we did a backed loan with 100% LTV. Okay. So he, the person that came in with, that bought it, came in with $250,000 worth of Bitcoin. And the great thing is he didn't have to sell it. So he's leveraging it. Right. And so he doesn't have to sell it. He doesn't get taxed on selling it. It's being held. So it's a, it's a beautiful product.

And these are the kinds of things that people who know about money and have that financial literacy have been able to take advantage of. And now actually it seems the whole world is starting to learn about this in real time as it unfolds. The average consumer, can access this type of system to, I mean, it's just brilliant. And they say like, you know, this is kind of like what Michael Saylor is always saying, you know, don't sell your Bitcoin, use it, leverage it, keep it there. And it's just a fantastic way to extend the wealth and to maximize it, right? Like that's also another element that people are just learning for the first time potentially through Propy, right? And these transactions.

Well, that's the issue, not an issue, but Bitcoiners, Don't want to ever sell. No, they don't ever want to sell. They didn't want to do it. So there's, we've got to figure out a way to evolve the industry around people like that. Right. Because we can't just say, oh, you're not willing to sell, then you're never going to buy real estate again.

Right.

It's just not fair. Um, but I even think like, even where the market currently is right now, like we, the stars are starting to align and we're starting to see like this perfect storm right now, because obviously what's happening with Bitcoin.

Right.

Pricing is going up, but there's going to be some point that we're going to, it's going to peak and then we're going to have a slide down for a couple years.

Right.

Like we always do in every cycle. But the beautiful thing about that is this, is that when this occurs, we're at a place right now in the real estate market that it's a buyer's market. And so buyers hold the power, the negotiation power, and so they can get great prices. So if we, a company, a high Bitcoin price with a low real estate market, when that price starts dipping down, they can transfer those funds and those earnings into real estate and hold it into real estate at a good price until the next cycle.

Wow. That's a really interesting strategy. I like that. And we're just coming up to the point in the market where that really makes sense, right? Where people want to kind of put their profits into something or just, yeah, like diversify a little bit. That really makes sense. And it's, it's so cool to see and just think about that is actually an option now in a compliant way. Right. You get it. This is, this is wild. So, I mean, I haven't seen any company doing anything like this. So that Bitcoin-backed loan, that transaction just happened. You guys have a lot of traction now on Propy. I know you just got a new listing, by the way.

We did.

So it's becoming more and more accessible. Where did you get the listing? Oh, BitMart, I believe it was. BitMart. Yes, that's right.

Thank you.

I saw that in the news. I, I saw it this morning. I'm literally, every time I open my, my phone, it's like something new about Propy. Yeah.

Yeah.

So you guys are constantly building, innovating, just getting out there in such a big way and becoming more accessible to more parts of the world, which is very cool for me. I'm based in Spain, but actually was just in New York at the Gracie Mansion for the Crypto Summit. First of its kind, right? First ever done. And obviously Mayor Eric Adams is a huge advocate for Bitcoin. He was the first mayor to accept his first 3 checks in Bitcoin. So very excited. And that roundtable conference was designed to sort of talk about ideas that the city could implement as he wants to make it the crypto capital of the world.

Mastermind.

Yeah, yeah, the crypto capital city. So now we're going more, yeah, it was a mastermind and I talked to them about Propy and they absolutely loved the concept of bringing real estate on-chain. I mean, like that was one of the topics that we discussed that was like, this is what makes most sense right now. We're talking about practical applications that really help people. So what are the benefits of, of doing this?

Yes. This is my passion project. I, I am obsessed with deeds on, on-chain because it just makes sense. You know, it's just one of those things that just makes sense. Um, there are over 3,500 counties in the United States. There are over 3,500 different ways that counties record deeds. It's, it's, it's archaic. It's madness out there.

Yeah.

I was speaking with some, uh, representatives of Iowa. And they're interested in, you know, possibly, you know, what does that look like if we put deeds on chain?

Right.

And so a lot of them, their counties are still pushing paper, right? There's actual paper deeds on the county level.

It can't be.

Okay. Which is wild to me because, I mean, I, I think it's wild because the city that I live in, St. Pete, Florida, in the 1920s, 1920, the courthouse burned down.

Right.

So there's not a record of a house being older than 1920 in all of St. Pete.

Oh my God.

Even though there was houses that was built in the 1800s, it's pretty wild, but there's still places today that are doing paper as deeds.

So it can't be, it's wild. Can't be true.

So here's the beauty is that if deeds were recorded on chain, one, we could create a universal system that all deeds could be recorded on chain, right? Going forward. And that all counties record the same exact way, which means that all deeds could easily be found, easily seen. We can easily see who the last owner is. And because it's on-chain, it's immutable, right? So, we know that that's the true ownership of that property.

Right.

Which means that there would be no reason to have to actually look in the past 50 years to see the trail of ownership to make sure that the person that is buying the house truly has the ability to buy the house and will own the house.

Right.

And the seller has the authority to sell the house.

Right.

So what we're looking at doing is we're looking at getting rid of an expensive insurance policy called title insurance.

Right.

Right. That has a less than a 3% claim rate anyway. It's a multi-billion dollar industry. And to me, to us, it's unnecessary. And so blockchain, putting deeds on chain gets rid of all of that as liquidity into the market. And it just makes everything more efficient.

Wow, that was a really powerful explanation. And it just kind of hits me hard, like all of these solutions, they're not only making life easier and more seamless, but they're saving a lot of money. Like we just had Zyphon, who we discussed earlier, they're a decentralized identity KYC protocol, and they're saving people money because they don't have to deal with the data and then the insurance for the storage of the data. Now you guys are saying, that title insurance is a multi-billion-dollar business. Whoa, that's crazy, right? And you can just eliminate that step by, by putting this on-chain. Yeah.

I mean, that's it. The American people are literally paying, are forced to pay for an insurance policy that they really don't even need. And that's really what we're looking at, right? And so, and all that is, is now just a system that we just implement and that's it. Right. You know, so instead of the county recording it on a centralized database. It's going to be recorded on a public chain.

Yeah.

It can easily be seen. And that's it. The system's already been created. We have it. We're ready.

The technology is ready. It's time to go.

The technology is there. The system's ready. We just got to plug and play.

Plug and play. I love that. And the way you explain it, it's just so simple and it makes so much sense to the average everyday user who may be watching this as it's on Tim Draper's Draper TV. So we've got a lot of traditional investors and they're kind of They love real estate. They understand real estate. Now it's just getting them to understand that this is the way that the future is headed and that it should head to protect them as well. Right. So, um, I know that it happens a lot that people actually buy homes that the owner didn't actually own. I mean, this fraud, it—

I mean, in Florida, we always see it. There's just some poor, some poor old lady that had been living in her house for the last 2 years, didn't know that it got sold underneath them. And then someone just comes along with a moving truck and she's like, what's going on here?

Oh my God.

And then they, I mean, it happens all the time. And so there is a fix to it.

Wow. And you think, how can this be? How can this be? I mean, it just doesn't make sense. So obviously what you guys are doing, it just needs to be implemented in every single county and every single city nationwide and hopefully worldwide, you know, as you guys expand, but, um, you are gaining a lot of traction. Uh, so people in all across all the US can use Propy.

Yes. Can I touch on something you just said?

Yeah, yeah.

That's, you know, we always talk about the US, right? And we talk, we know this is what we do. We're in real estate, in the US real estate. We know the US systems.

Right.

But this system that we could implement into the counties isn't just for the US.

Right.

It can be a global solution that could help all other countries being able to transact real estate and be able to have actually records behind it. I was talking to some individuals just recently that live in Brazil and they don't really have a, some parts don't have a system even.

Right.

And it's literally a shake of a hand.

Wow.

Because they know that this house has been in the family's name for how many years and that's it.

So there's not even paper involved there. That's just word of mouth. Yeah.

Exactly. You know, a little spit on the hand and there you go. And so, but that can't be, that can't go on forever.

No, no.

You know, it just can't. And so this, this will solve not only the US issues and give thousands and billions of dollars back to the American people. But this is something that could solve a huge issue across the globe.

And, you know, stick to the true North Star of Web3, which is true digital ownership, right? I mean, that's just where we're all headed and where we should be headed. And what we're focused on, right, is being able to prove that then and have that sovereignty over your money, over your assets, over whatever it is that you want to just have safe and in your possession and And there's so many different elements here that make sense apart from that, right? Additional layers. But I love what you're saying about worldwide. Actually, somebody in my circle of friends just bought a home in Italy that was not, that was not the seller's home. And it blows my mind. Really? Like that, that can still happen. Yeah. It was just, there's a lot of fraud in the industry. And if we can eliminate that with this technology and, and implement Propy's system, I mean, just imagine how the world will change.

And that's just property fraud, right? The, One of the biggest issues, and then title fraud, I should say.

Right.

One of the biggest issues in real estate is not just the title fraud, it is wire fraud.

Okay.

Right.

Right.

Because I mean, I even did a, a little bit of research in Colorado and just in the last year, there's been over $30 million lost to wire fraud.

Wow.

And that's one, that's a lot of money. That's one state.

And one state and just, just so like, why, you know, why does that have to happen? Just wire fraud. So how does that happen actually?

So it's interesting. Um, so here's what happens is anything done by email, it can be seen. Email is the largest way of passing on information to fraudsters. Right.

Right.

So what happens is, is Obviously, there's communication going back through a real estate agent and that person. People are picking up these communications. They know they're going to be buying a house. They're just waiting for this, right?

Right.

They notice that they go under contract. Fantastic. The title company sends them an email, congratulations on purchasing a new home. And so the fraudster puts together an email that looks like it's coming from a title company.

Okay.

I mean, it could be prop with 2 Ps, right? Coming from a title company and saying, hey, here are the wire instructions for your earnest money deposit.

Wow.

And so they, the buyer, I mean, most people don't buy a house every 1 in 9 years, right? And so like, they're not familiar with the process, but they see this email come in, they go, okay, well, I gotta wire my funds to the escrow company.

Oh man.

And so they wire 'em and they're gone.

Oh, that's so terrible. It's just so—

Terrible.

Unnecessary too, you know? It's an unnecessary thing to have happen. So, you know, that can all be fixed by implementing your system, bringing property rights on-chain. I'm also very passionate about this because these are the things that are going to uplift global citizens worldwide, right? They're pressing issues that cause a lot of problems, a lot of problems that can change a lot of the way we do things in life. So that's actually very exciting and just so fitting for the fact that we're at the Bitcoin conference. You just had the news come out pretty recently about the Bitcoin-backed loan. So I'm sure all the Bitcoiners were super happy about this. Yeah. So you can, you can then do this Bitcoin-backed loan for any property in the US now, potentially.

We can, you know, now that we've proved it works, it's good.

That's huge.

I know.

So you're going to be getting a lot of traction, especially the time in the market that you said that we're at. I mean, this is the time where people start to look to diversify. And I think that's so interesting. So what is on the roadmap now for Propy? What are you most excited about that's coming next? Tell us a little bit about, you know, thoughts for the future.

Yeah. So, you know, our whole thing, one, you know, the relationship that we're building right now with individuals in Capitol Hill and trying to get things done, you know, blockchain is exciting. Um, but we are really, really, really focusing a lot of our energy, um, on automation of the real estate process. Right. And not every single, you know, it's not like we're going to go from one BTC-backed loan to 100,000 in one year.

Right.

Right. So we have to still be able to gradually Still be able to transact in a way that's secure, that's automated, even for traditional way of real estate, right? So, that's a big thing that we're doing, implementing AI into the real estate processes to make the escrow process 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even if it's not crypto, even if it is USD fiat, we can still transact 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I mean, that's huge.

It's huge because, you know, the consumer's mindset, has rapidly changed in the last 5 years.

Yeah.

And everyone wants things now. They become Violet from Willy Wonka, right? I want it now. Everyone's become this kind of like they need everything, right? They scroll on their phones. They can't just sit down without looking at something. The way that we shop, you can buy a car online and get it delivered to you. Groceries are being delivered same day. You go on Amazon, you're getting delivered things same day. Sometimes it's next day, you know, but I'm guilty of, if I don't get something delivered the next day, I look for a different supplier so I can get it the next day.

Right. Yeah.

Which means 2 days is now too long. But when it comes to real estate, if someone's going to buy a house and they go under contract, say at Saturday, they have to wait until Monday morning when their title company opens their door and says, okay, we're ready to transact.

Right.

And that mindset It's not gonna— buyers don't want that.

Right.

Sellers don't want that. They wanna make sure they secure the deal by getting the earnest money deposit in as fast as they possibly can.

Right.

So we give that process and we, we give the ability for buyers and sellers to transact when they want to. Right. Which is 24/7, right? When they go under contract.

And that's, that's so cool. So I did a docuseries, uh, powered by Propy in New York, uh, called NFTs Are Dead. Right. It's obviously ironic. Um, it was that during NFT NYC. And every single person we asked was like, yeah, I'd put my condo on chain. That makes so much sense. The thing about trading 24/7 is a big deal. You could potentially buy and trade and sell a house, a property title deed in 24 hours, right? And that's the future. That is the future. Obviously, you've got to go through the KYC and AML, but after that, that's unheard of in the traditional world, right? And there's also the narrative of Propy being a US Coin company. I mean, that is a huge thing because you know there are so many that are offshore, and Propy has been in the U.S. from the start, right? You've been you're a huge part of that narrative. So when I see all these diagrams around and it's like U.S.-based crypto, you know that Trump is now saying crypto's made in America. You guys are in all of that hype and news, you know because you're one of the top builders in that narrative. You're actually doing things. You're executing. You've been building. You've been here since 2017. So That's created a lot of momentum for you guys.

Yeah. I think us being one of the very rare and few US-based coins is, it's, it's great.

Yeah.

You know, especially with all the hype with the Trump campaign, with everyone talking about US-based, you know, we, we provide a solution that can be global, but we, we are based here in the US. We are US. We, we, we do everything for the American people.

Right now. And it's fantastic. It's so cool to see everyone so excited, especially Bitcoiners, right? That can now use their Bitcoin for something other than just storing it there, right? And they can actually use it to make their lives, enrich their lives, and diversify their portfolios and own property on-chain. It just, to me, is like crazy that we're even being able to talk about this.

You know, I just, what's really going to be fascinating in the real estate realm is when we really start tokenizing properties and we start fractionalizing things. Because now when we're talking about the Bitcoiners don't have to sell off. Well, think about this. Now we can get the average person that might not have, you know, 30 Bitcoins, right?

Right.

Um, but now when we start doing fractionalization, now there's, now the average person could actually have skin in the game on huge development projects, right? Because now they can actually have fractionalized ownership of a multi-billion dollar condo complex. Right. Because, and it's just, it's a beautiful thing. And right now we're, we're, we're even talking to developers in a bunch of different states, but primarily in Miami. And this is what they want to do.

Right.

You know, they want to raise funds before the project even starts.

Right.

And selling it off to just normal people is a great way to source funds for them.

And easier liquidity, right? Like, for sure. And so, wow. That's, so that's a whole nother added element that people can be excited for about Propy. As we're wrapping this up, getting to the end now, what are you most excited for as far as future developments? And before I get there, I have to say just one other thought. You guys have associated yourselves with some of the biggest powerhouses in the industry. I mean, I've been on X Spaces, actually moderated a few of them, had the pleasure to be able to do that and listen to this amazing conversation with industry leaders. You had Cathie Wood, Tim Draper, Anthony Pompliano, Anthony Scaramucci. I mean, all of the biggest people in the space. have sort of rallied around what Propy's doing and said, this is it. This is the future. Get on board.

I love Cathie Wood. She's so fantastic.

Me too. I'm a big advocate. I talk about her big ideas all the time, the convergence of the powerful technologies. And I love to see her kind of on the Spaces talking about this with you guys.

Yeah. And I think that with names that you just mentioned is testament that we're going the right directions.

Oh yeah.

Right. And If we're doing things that they're interested in doing and they want to hear about it and they have something to have input into what we're doing, we're doing the right thing.

Right. And so what's on the roadmap coming up? Can you share anything with us that you're excited about or that you'd like to see?

There's going to be more exchanges that we're going to be listed on, which I'm really excited about because there are some big names. So I'm really excited about that for the PRO token and for that. And for the sense of, in the real estate side, we're going to just keep ramping up this Bitcoin-backed loan and it's going to be fantastic.

Yeah. And more exchange listings equals more access and more accessible to more people around the world that can get involved. And the PRO token's been doing very well lately. I've been keeping track of that too, just because it's so interesting to me that you guys have been around for so long. I mean, I think you're one of the only OG projects that's come this far and built this much in that time. Um, so we'll definitely be keeping a close eye on what Propy's doing. Uh, it's been very, very fun to sit down with you today, Eric, at the Bitcoin Vegas conference, and I hope to catch up with you somewhere around the world soon.

I appreciate you. Good to see you.

Thank you for being here.