How a bitcoiner used BTC to buy his mother a house

There is a special bond between mothers and their sons. A bitcoin (BTC) loan from his mother helped pseudonym Alan, a 28-year-old engineer, buy a house.

Alan told Cointelegraph that in 2021 — coincidentally on his sister’s birthday — he took out a Bitcoin-backed loan to gift his mother the tax-free money. She then used the money to buy a house in North Yorkshire, England while Alan kept his bitcoins.

Alan first used Bitcoin in 2012 when he learned it was a useful currency for buying things online. He used the peer-to-peer (P2P) service localbitcoins.com, whose team are regular Cointelegraph contributors, to buy bitcoin.

Alan described the process of buying bitcoin from real people as a “bizarre experience.” He explained that the experience of 10 years ago is not comparable to using popular exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken or Binance today.

Over the course of his studies at university, Alan’s interest in Bitcoin ebbed and flowed until 2014 came and the “less than £100” or $130 that Alan had in Bitcoin had grown to “a few grand”. Alan explains the Bitcoin currency “transition” in a bit more:

“Bitcoin had actual utility, from online purchase to actual value. I now have this anonymous money, or ‘anonymous enough’ money, with actual value.”

Going long-term with Bitcoin might make sense as the P2P money created by Satoshi Nakomoto could be an investment vehicle or a store of value.

Fast forward to 2016 and the price per bitcoin was around $753 or £600. Alan knew it was “something worth buying,” but Alan was still a student and had his head bowed for exams:

“I didn’t have any cash and all the bitcoins I had I used to buy things.”

Talking to his father, Alan suggested that investing “a few thousand” in the orange coin might be worth it. Unfortunately, his father didn’t invest in 2016, but Alan carried on.

The Bitcoin bull run of 2017 reversed and the price per Bitcoin reached almost $20,000. At the time of Alan’s second halving, the process by which the bitcoin miner cuts the reward in half, causing a supply shock, his bitcoin began to grow in monetary value.

In the summer of 2021, when the price hit $40,000, Alan’s mother’s house negotiations came up. Alan knew how to ‘help’ and better yet, he knew he could get a loan so he didn’t even have to sell.

He chose Celsius, a centralized finance platform dealing with decentralized cryptocurrencies, to raise cash. Despite interest in other cryptocurrencies and knowledge of decentralized finance (DeFi), Alan explained that using a centralized finance provider offers a “lower perception of risk” as they are backed by venture capital:

“They expect them to be a bit more resilient than DeFi protocols. Also, the 25% loan-to-value is a good limit they put on me because otherwise I would probably liquidate myself.”

Sometime in August 2021, on his sister’s birthday, Alan took out a Bitcoin-backed loan from Celsius with a 25% LTV and 0% interest. He quickly wired the money to his mother to meet the grand total for the new house.

He pledged 2.08 BTC as collateral to generate $25,000 for purchase on a 36-month loan term. Alan’s mother was over the moon with his generosity, and when she learned the money came from a bitcoin loan, Alan said she commented, “That’s cool!”

Cointelegraph reached out to Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky for comment. He stated that it is “an honor to serve a community that wants to do good for others,” adding:

“We hear a lot of great stories about clients starting businesses, growing businesses, buying homes, taking care of others and even climbing mountains using Celsius loans.”

Alan caps his experience with bitcoin-backed lending by explaining that he’s taken out more Celsius loans to buy other things, but with a word of caution: “Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it sucks.”

Related: The €1M Bitcoin Pension Plan Hits 200K: ‘It’s Not Too Late To Invest’

Ultimately, Alain explained that “bitcoin may get a bad rap in the press, but the more good things people do with it, the better.” What’s more, he proved that you don’t necessarily have to sell your bitcoins to be generous.

“Many people have had the incredible luck of turning small amounts of money into ridiculous piles of wealth. So yes, give back something beautiful somewhere. Whether family or general charity.”

Alan came to the conclusion that everyone should “buy your mother a house,” or better yet, he jokes, “buy my mother another house.”