Bitcoin is a somewhat mysterious, fairly confusing type of digital currency that, until recently, you could use to buy large amount of drugs on the internet. But now you can use Bitcoin for something (arguably) even better than drugs: New York City real estate. A tipster recently sent along a listing for a $2,580/month one-bedroom sublet in 99 John Deco Lofts, accepting Bitcoin, which hit the market last month. And today, online apartment search marketplace RentHop announced in a press release that it will be accepting Bitcoin from people advertising NYC apartments on its site. In order to encourage people to adopt the currency, RentHop is offering a 60 percent discount to Bitcoin-using landlords and real estate agents. A listing paid for with Bitcoin will cost 0.833 milli-bitcoin (1/1000th of a Bitcoin), which comes out to $0.76 at current exchange rates. Listings paid for with boring old U.S. dollars cost $2, but spare the landlords and agents the anguish of trying to figure out how to use Bitcoin.

These are not the first proposed Bitcoin real estate transactions in New York, however. In May, the owner of a Trump Soho condo listed his apartment and announced that he would be accepting only Bitcoin as payment. Nor are such listing limited to our city—a Las Vegas developer recently listed his $7.85 million mansion and will accept the digital currency.

· Much Ado About Bitcoin [NYT]