Why a real estate broker talks about bitcoin
Key points
- The dollar loses purchasing power every year. A dollar today buys about half what it bought in 2000.
- Real estate investors are taught cap rates and cash flow, but rarely how money itself is created. That gap costs people.
- I hold bitcoin alongside real estate. Both are scarce assets. Here is how they can work together, and where the risks are.
How I got here
I started asking how money is created in 2017. That question led me to gold and bitcoin. By 2020 I had studied inflation, the Federal Reserve, the money supply and the bond market, and I was surprised by how much I had never been taught.
None of it came up in school. None of it came up in the investment real estate courses I took to earn my CCIM designation. We learned to value a building in dollars. We never learned what was happening to the dollar.
What happens to the dollar
Money and currency are not the same thing. Money holds its value over time. Currency is what we spend. When the supply of currency grows faster than the economy, each dollar buys less.
- The US money supply, measured as M2, grew from $4.7 trillion in January 2000 to $23.3 trillion in August 2026. About five times larger.
- Since January 2020 alone, M2 grew 51%.
- Over the same period since 2000, the purchasing power of a consumer dollar fell by about half.
Rising home prices are mostly a shrinking dollar
Birmingham home values rose 161% from 2000 to mid-2026. Consumer prices rose 96% over the same years. Take out inflation and the real gain is 33%. About 70% of the increase is the dollar losing value, not the house gaining it.
Measure against the money supply and homes fell behind. M2 grew almost fivefold. Home values grew about two and a half times.
This is why real estate has long been a hedge. Property is scarce, and its price tends to rise as the dollar falls. Bitcoin is scarce too. Its supply is capped at 21 million coins, and no one can print more.
Two ways bitcoin can fit a real estate plan
1. Buy bitcoin with excess cash flow
Rental income that sits in a bank account loses purchasing power. Some owners move a share of excess cash flow into bitcoin as a long-term savings asset, the way others buy gold.
2. Borrow against bitcoin instead of selling it
Some lenders accept bitcoin as collateral, the way a bank accepts a building. An owner borrows dollars at a fixed rate and keeps the bitcoin. If bitcoin grows faster than the loan rate over the life of the loan, the owner comes out ahead on the spread. Large investors run the same logic with other assets. See lenders, rates and a worked example.
That "if" carries the whole idea. Past growth does not promise future growth. The calculator shows the math both ways: what happens if bitcoin rises, stays flat or falls.
The risks, plainly
- Price swings. Bitcoin has fallen more than 70% from a peak more than once. Plan to hold through drops like that, or don't hold it.
- Margin calls. A loan against bitcoin can be called or the bitcoin sold if the price falls far enough. Borrow conservatively.
- Lender and custody risk. Whoever holds your collateral matters. Know who it is and what happens if they fail.
- Taxes and rules. Buying, selling and borrowing all carry tax effects, and the rules keep changing. Talk to your CPA.
Why this belongs on a brokerage site
Real estate decisions are money decisions. You can't judge what a property is really earning without knowing what the dollar is doing. I would rather you understand this sooner than later.
If you hold bitcoin and want to own property, or own property and want to understand bitcoin, let's talk.