Blockchain.com’s CEO bought a stylish house in Los Angeles – DIRT
Snowstorms are still predicted in the current “crypto winter”, but Peter Smith has a warm refuge waiting for him, should the long-term market cold really take hold. While the deal actually went down way back in 2021, it turns out Blockchain.com’s co-founder and CEO was the buyer who plunked down $8 million on a Los Angeles hilltop home with panoramic views of the mountains, the Santa Monica Pier, the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island.
Originally built in 1966 as a humble contemporary, the house underwent a significant renovation in the mid-90s that transformed it into an elegant contemporary. Another recent conversion blessed it with a raised infinity pool reminiscent of one you’d find at a five-star Balinese resort, plus a fully detached guest house with its own bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette, living room and utility room.
The three-bedroom main house is defined by a large, L-shaped great room that combines the living room, dining room and kitchen into a single open space. Walls of glass open the space to outdoor patios and the sweeping views, and the fully renovated kitchen offers a host of high-end amenities—marble countertops, a walk-in wine cooler, a Wolf range, glass-fronted Sub-Zero refrigerator, and dual Miele- ovens.
Perhaps the home’s most unexpected feature is the giant granite tub that sits in the master bath, though the suite’s ocean views and dual walk-in closets are also worthy of any bitcoin brainiac. Elsewhere are two guest rooms, each with its own bathroom, an attached two-car garage, an outdoor shower, and a pool bathroom accessible in the backyard for changing wetsuits and the like.
Raised in rural America, according to his Blockchain.com biography, 33-year-old Smith was one of the first to discover bitcoin’s enormous potential and is considered a crypto pioneer. Today, the company has its international headquarters in Luxembourg, with a major US hub in Miami, and Smith’s personal net worth is believed to be well into the nine figures.
And as major crypto companies go, despite layoffs and pay cuts, Blockchain.com has handled the market downturn better than most. One of the first bitcoin-focused firms to exist, it may have been overshadowed in recent years by newer, livelier rivals like Coinbase and Binance, though the private company’s strategy of slower growth has helped it quietly raise $490 million in funding , and it would reportedly still have a $4 billion valuation in its much-rumored, reportedly upcoming IPO.
