RealOpen Certified · Lesson 7 of 8

Finding and winning crypto buyers

After this, you have a thirty-day plan for attracting crypto-funded buyers, the words to describe the capability without sounding like a fan, and the rules for what you may and may not say about RealOpen.

After this lesson you can

  • Name where crypto buyers surface, including the financed buyers and past clients most agents never ask.
  • Describe the capability in one plain sentence, and leave out price predictions, insider talk and guarantees.
  • Run a thirty-day plan: bio line, past-client note, lender conversation, listing remark, directory profile, one post a week.
  • Market a listing to crypto-funded buyers without the seller accepting crypto.
  • Say what you may and may not claim about the credential and about RealOpen.

By Johnny Schiro, licensed real estate broker in Texas, New York and Florida. Updated 2026-10-10.

Take the Module 7 check
About the certification

This check has five questions. You need 4 correct to pass.

Where these buyers surface

  • Your existing clients. A buyer may not think to mention that they hold crypto, and a lender who does not know about an asset cannot count it. Add one question to your intake for every buyer: "Do you hold assets that could help you qualify or fund the down payment, and are any of them in crypto?"
  • Financed buyers. Crypto is not only for all-cash deals. It can fund a down payment, count toward reserves or support qualifying, so a buyer who needs a mortgage is still a crypto buyer. Module 5 is your pitch to their lender.
  • Buyers with wealth and a thin W-2. Standard income screens fail them, and the wrong lender sends them away. You can be the agent who knows there is another lane.
  • Your listings. Buyers look for homes they can buy with crypto. Any listing qualifies, because the seller is paid in dollars.
  • Loan officers and CPAs. The loan officer who just had a crypto deposit blow up a file, and the CPA with clients who hold crypto, both want an agent who will not make it worse. One lunch each.
  • Referrals from RealOpen. Buyers who come to RealOpen without an agent can be referred to an agent in their market.
  • Buyers outside the U.S. RealOpen can fund international purchases where local law allows it and an escrow or settlement agent accepts wire transfers.

Say it like a competence

One line does the job: "I close crypto-funded purchases. Your funds are verified, the offer goes in as cash, and the seller gets dollars."

Keep it plain and specific. Leave out price predictions, investment opinions and any attempt to sound like an insider. A buyer with real money in crypto has reason to be private about it, and after a year of being pitched by everyone, they can smell enthusiasm. Be the agent who is competent and discreet.

The second sentence that wins these buyers is about protection: "Before we look at anything, we verify the funds. It takes fifteen minutes, your crypto doesn't move, and it means your offer is taken seriously." A real holder hears that as respect for their time. A victim hears it as the first honest thing anyone has said to them in months.

A thirty-day plan

Do these in order. None takes more than an hour.

  1. Day 1. Your bio, three places. Add one line to your website bio, your brokerage page and your email signature: "I close crypto-funded purchases." After certification, the badge goes under it, linking to your directory profile.
  2. Day 2. Your directory profile. Finish it: bio, headshot, your primary market, your target market areas and a public contact method. An incomplete profile is not visible, and it is skipped when buyers are referred.
  3. Day 3. Past clients. One short email to your past-client list, not a newsletter blast: "A question I've started asking everyone: do you hold any crypto? It can now fund a down payment or count toward a mortgage without selling first, and I've been trained on how. If that's you or someone you know, call me." Expect a handful of replies, and expect one to be a story from Module 3.
  4. Week 2. One lender, one CPA. Lunch or a call. Tell them what you learned in Module 5, and that you can send them a buyer whose crypto is already verified and documented. Ask them to send you the client whose crypto they do not know what to do with.
  5. Week 2. Your listings. With the seller's agreement, add the remark: "Crypto-funded offers welcome. Seller receives U.S. dollars at closing." Follow your MLS's rules for remarks. Mention it in listing presentations as one more pool of buyers.
  6. Weeks 3 and 4. One post a week. Not a pitch. A question your clients ask and the plain answer: "Can I use crypto for a down payment without selling first?" "Why won't an agent accept a wallet screenshot?" "What does a crypto proof of funds actually prove?" You have eight lessons of material. Four posts, four weeks, no laser eyes.
  7. Day 30. Submit a listing to RealOpen. From Listings in your Pro Dashboard; it is reviewed before it is published, and it puts your listing in front of buyers who are already verified.

Then keep the post-a-week habit, and keep asking every buyer the one question.

Put the badge to work

Certification gives you a badge, a public profile in RealOpen's agent directory, and a certificate.

  • Your website and brokerage bio. The badge links to your directory profile, which shows that the certification is current. The link is there so a client can check the credential.
  • Email signature and LinkedIn. Add it under licenses and certifications, with your profile as the credential link.
  • Listing presentations. One line: you can bring crypto-funded buyers to the seller's listing, and the seller is paid in dollars.

The listing side

Marketing a listing to crypto-funded buyers does not mean the seller accepts crypto. The buyer's crypto is converted, escrow receives a wire, and the seller is paid in dollars. The contract does not change.

Get your seller's agreement before you advertise anything about their listing, and follow your MLS's rules for remarks.

How referrals from RealOpen work

  • RealOpen routes by market and by profile visibility. Agents with complete profiles in the buyer's market are who it looks at first.
  • To receive referrals, you sign RealOpen's Referral Agreement once in your dashboard. One signature covers future referrals until the agreement expires.
  • A referral shows up under Inbound Referrals. You can accept or decline it. The client's contact details unlock when you accept.
  • You are the agent of record. RealOpen stays out of the representation.
  • A standard referral fee applies on a referred client. The fee is stated in the agreement and agreed in writing before you receive the client.

Be realistic about volume. This is a niche. Referrals are occasional and depend on your market. Certification makes you findable. It does not fill your pipeline.

RealOpen also has an optional affiliate program that pays on buyers you introduce. It is separate from certification, and the current terms are in your dashboard.

What you may and may not say

You are an independent agent who holds a private designation. Describe yourself that way.

You may say:

  • "RealOpen Certified."
  • "I completed RealOpen's certification on closing crypto-funded purchases."
  • "I work with RealOpen to verify and fund my crypto buyers."

You may not:

  • Call yourself a RealOpen agent, broker, employee or partner, or suggest RealOpen represents your client.
  • Describe RealOpen as a lender, or suggest it offers or arranges loans.
  • Suggest the certification is a state license, a state designation or continuing education credit.
  • Guarantee that a buyer will be verified, that a lender will accept their documentation, or that a deal will close by a certain date.
  • Give tax or investment advice under the badge.
  • Display the badge when your certification is not current.

The standard disclosure: RealOpen Certified is a private designation issued by RealOpen. It is not continuing education credit and is not issued or endorsed by any state licensing authority.

RealOpen Certified is a private designation issued by RealOpen. It is not continuing education credit and is not issued or endorsed by any state licensing authority. How certifying works.