E11EVEN Hotel & Residences co-founder on collecting crypto deposits on real estate: Enthusiasm 'astounding'

E11EVEN Hotel & Residences co-founder Marc Roberts claims he’s the first to allow cryptocurrency deposits on real estate, telling "Mornings with Maria" on Monday that he believes "those that don't embrace this will be left behind." 

The co-founder of the condominium complex in Miami, Fla., noted that "the enthusiasm for crypto, especially coming off the conference in Miami, has been really astounding."

Roberts was referencing the Bitcoin 2021 conference, which took place in Miami, Fla., earlier this month, where conference organizers estimated about 50,000 people attended to talk about Bitcoin’s rapid growth and potentially promising future. 

"I think the whole movement is trending towards more buyers paying in crypto and we are very excited to be the first people to take cryptocurrency for deposits on real estate," Roberts said on Monday, adding that he believes it’s "a wise move."  

"I think it will be one of our greatest decisions," he stressed. 

Roberts noted that "we had tremendous response" and already collected the first 10% of crypto deposits before the company made the announcement that the digital currency would be accepted. 

"We are now about a month away from collecting our second 10% deposit," he said, noting that he believes it will also be around 10 to 15%. 

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
COIN	COINBASE GLOBAL INC.	211.01	-7.07	-3.24%
BITQ	EXCHANGE TRADED CONCEPTS TRUST BITWISE CRYPTO INNOVATORS E	10.49	+0.14	+1.35%

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain unregulated within the U.S. financial system. 

Bitcoin has fallen from its record high of $64,829 to the $40,000 level, but is still up around 40% year-to-date as of Monday, according to Coindesk.

Bitcoin, along with many other cryptocurrencies, faced drastic drops last month. 

Investors suffered one of their biggest losses on May 19 when China announced that it would ban financial and payment institutions from providing digital currency services.  

The drastic drop in cryptocurrencies began when Tesla announced that it would not accept digital currency as payment for their vehicles, which was a reversal from an earlier announcement. The reason given was the potential environmental damage that can result from Bitcoin mining. 

On Sunday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the electric carmaker will resume allowing bitcoin transactions when miners who verify transactions use more renewable energy. 

"When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions," Musk tweeted.

Roberts acknowledged on Monday that "there is volatility" as it pertains to cryptocurrencies, but stressed that based on speaking with people, especially the younger generation, "all you hear about is crypto."  

"All they want to do is pay in crypto and I think that those that don’t embrace this are going to be left behind," Roberts said. 

"I don’t think that this is something that’s going to stop. I think the momentum is too strong and like anything else, we’re trying to be pioneers, to be [at] the forefront of what’s coming next and I just think the people that don’t embrace it, study it, learn it, are going to be left in the dust on cryptocurrencies."

FOX Business’ Dagen McDowell asked Roberts if he immediately liquidates when he gets a crypto deposit "to remove the volatility of the digital currency?"

"It’s all so new and we’re studying and we’re trying to embrace the movement," Roberts responded. 

"We’re dealing with a legal counsel, we’re dealing with our accountants and we’re having a lot of meetings and we’ll have a real solid game plan by the time we take our second deposits," he added. 

 FOX Business’ Ken Martin contributed to this report.