Ten years ago, “paying rent in Bitcoin” sounded like a thought experiment. In 2025, it’s a practical option in a handful of global hubs—thanks to crypto-enabled rental platforms, merchant processors that auto-convert BTC to local currency, and landlords willing to accept wallet-to-wallet payments. Cointelegraph’s latest roundup names Miami, Lisbon, Berlin, Toronto, and Paris as the current front-runners. Here’s what that looks like on the ground, plus the tools and caveats you need to know.
Why this is happening now
Three forces are converging:
- Better rails. Payment processors (e.g., BitPay-style gateways) let tenants pay in BTC while landlords receive local fiat, reducing volatility risk and easing bookkeeping. Cointelegraph’s explainer distinguishes direct wallet payments from indirect payments handled by intermediaries that settle in fiat.
- Crypto-native rental platforms. A new crop of platforms explicitly support crypto rent, including services expanding across major European capitals.
- City-level adoption. Some municipalities have embraced crypto for day-to-day commerce, creating clusters where landlords and tenants already expect digital payments. Lugano’s “Plan ₿,” for example, shows how city programs seed merchant acceptance broadly (contextual to the trend, though not one of the five cities below).
The five cities to watch
1) Miami, Florida (United States)
Miami’s crypto-friendly branding has spilled into property. In April 2025, The Rider Residences (Wynwood)publicized a direct wallet-to-wallet crypto real-estate sale, underscoring that developers and brokers in the city increasingly understand digital-asset flows. While that example covers sales, the same infrastructure (escrow, compliance partners) can support negotiated BTC rent on a case-by-case basis—particularly for furnished or luxury rentals.
For travelers and short-stays, luxury-rental operators in Miami also accept cryptocurrency, offering a preview of how full-term rentals can work when landlords are on board or when processors convert BTC to dollars at the point of payment.
How to pay here: Expect individual negotiation with landlords or use agencies that already advertise crypto acceptance; in many cases, a processor will convert BTC to USD for the owner, minimizing volatility and tax complexity for the recipient. Cointelegraph flags Miami as a front-runner despite limited “dedicated” rent platforms inside city limits.
2) Lisbon (Portugal)
Lisbon’s digital-nomad boom and clear procedures for crypto-denominated property deals have fostered a crypto-fluent rental market. In July 2025, rental platform RentRemote announced a BitPay integration, enabling tenants to pay in cryptocurrency across its European portfolio—including Lisbon—with landlords receiving euros. That’s the crucial step from “possible” to “operational.”
How to pay here: Look for platforms that offer indirect BTC payments (tenant pays in BTC; landlord receives EUR), or work through notaries/brokers able to handle conversion and invoicing. Cointelegraph lists Lisbon among the top five where paying rent in BTC has become feasible in practice.
3) Berlin (Germany)
Berlin’s mid-term rental ecosystem is unusually platform-driven, and Flatio explicitly lists Bitcoin as a rent payment option. That means a tenant can transact in BTC while the platform manages the flow and documentation—particularly useful for 1- to 6-month stays common among remote workers.
How to pay here: On Flatio, renters can choose Bitcoin under “express payment,” alongside card and mobile-wallet options. This is an indirect route—practical for compliance while preserving your BTC spend. Cointelegraph points to Berlin as a place where intermediated crypto rent is already normalized for mid-term leases.
4) Toronto (Canada)
Canada has multiple rent-tech platforms. liv.rent has supported Bitcoin rent payments since 2021, letting tenants pay in BTC while landlords receive CAD. Even though adoption is still niche, the tooling exists across major Canadian cities, including Toronto, making crypto rent more a question of landlord preference than of rails.
How to pay here: Use a platform with crypto acceptance to avoid ad-hoc wallet transfers; the platform will generate invoices and convert BTC to Canadian dollars for the landlord. Cointelegraph cites Toronto as a city where infrastructure enables BTC rent today, even if direct wallet-to-wallet leases are uncommon.
5) Paris (France)
Paris has a surprisingly long history with BTC in rentals: the agency Lodgis began offering Bitcoin as a way to pay certain fees back in 2014, and its press room later referenced rent acceptance for furnished lets through the agency. While today’s standard is often indirect (a processor converts to EUR on receipt), the institutional memory—and the fact that a major Paris agency documented BTC workflows—helps crypto-savvy tenants find workable arrangements.
How to pay here: Work through agencies that know the compliance steps and use payment partners to convert BTC to euros for the landlord. Cointelegraph lists Paris among the top five for practical, if still boutique, BTC rent options.
How “direct” vs. “indirect” crypto rent works
- Direct BTC payments: Tenant pays landlord wallet-to-wallet in Bitcoin; the landlord holds BTC (or converts later). Pros: speed, fewer intermediaries, borderless. Cons: landlord bears volatility; tax treatment can be trickier; refunds and disputes need careful handling. (Miami’s high-profile wallet-to-wallet property sale shows the operational template.)
- Indirect BTC payments: Tenant pays in BTC via a processor/platform; landlord receives local fiat(USD/EUR/CAD). Pros: familiar for landlords; clear invoices; stable cash flow. Cons: fees and processor limits; you rely on the intermediary’s uptime and KYC. (Flatio in Berlin; RentRemote in Lisbon and other EU hubs; liv.rent in Canada.)
Practical checklist before you send coins
- Confirm the route. Is the landlord accepting direct BTC, or do they require a processor that converts to fiat? Get it in the lease addendum. Cointelegraph’s guide stresses clarifying method, conversion rate, and schedule up front.
- Pin down conversion terms. If paying via processor, agree on rate source and timestamp used for FX (e.g., quote at invoice generation vs. settlement).
- Use escrow when possible. For deposits and first month’s rent, escrow or trusted platforms reduce counterparty risk; crypto transactions are final.
- Keep records. Save invoices, TXIDs, and conversion confirmations; tax authorities typically treat rent paid in crypto as a disposal by the payer (capital gain/loss rules vary by country).
- Mind local rules. Some jurisdictions restrict property purchases in crypto but not rent payments routed through a converter—another reason platforms are popular. Cointelegraph notes the distinction in its Berlin section.
Beyond the top five: signals of growing acceptance
- City-level programs: Lugano’s Plan ₿ shows how a municipal initiative can normalize crypto payments across merchants and services, indicating where rent acceptance could scale next as property managers plug into the same rails.
- Travel and mid-term stays: A broad set of short-term rental operators and luxury villa firms in major cities (e.g., Miami/LA) already take crypto, creating landlord familiarity that often precedes longer-term lease support.
Bottom line
If you’re relocating to Miami, Lisbon, Berlin, Toronto, or Paris, you can plausibly pay rent in Bitcoin right now. The most reliable path is indirect payments via platforms that convert BTC to local currency for the landlord (Flatio, RentRemote, liv.rent), though direct wallet-to-wallet arrangements do exist where landlords are crypto-forward and contracts account for volatility. Expect the experience to feel a lot like any online rent portal—just with a BTC payment button and more attention to conversion rates and receipts.
That combination—platform plumbing plus landlord familiarity—is why these five cities stand out in 2025. If you handle the paperwork, verify payment rails, and keep clean records, paying rent in Bitcoin can be as smooth as a bank transfer—sometimes faster.