Real estate entrepreneur and author Leon von Kamm said Bitcoin (BTC) could be worth $1,000 trillion if investors use it to preserve wealth and back loans, potentially shifting demand from property.
Speaking on the Bitcoin Magazine podcast Sunday, Oct. 25, von Kamm put the worldwide property market between $300 trillion and $500 trillion, depending on the valuation method. He said Bitcoin’s potential market value could be about twice that and called $1,000 trillion his “base case,” without giving a date.
He said real estate represents about two-thirds of global wealth and tied its monetary role to the dollar’s loss of gold convertibility in 1971. Von Kamm also argued Bitcoin is more accessible than property.
He put annual home-price gains from 1971 at about 6% and commercial property growth at 4.5%, both below his 7% monetary-inflation estimate. He said borrowing has helped drive property investment returns.
Von Kamm described property finance as a two-sided proposition. Buyers may borrow as much as 80% of a purchase, while rental income can help pay down principal, an arrangement he said can attract banks. But when interest charges exceed expected rent, he said, the economics of buying weaken. He added that financial pressure may leave owners accepting less than the cost of building a replacement property, which he said can benefit buyers. Borrowing can amplify returns, he said, though higher financing costs can weaken a purchase.
For collateral, von Kamm compared growth in an asset’s value with the debt secured against it. He cited compound annual growth of about 50% for Bitcoin, compared with 5% to 6% for property. He argued that Bitcoin’s 21 million-unit supply cap and appreciation could shrink loans relative to the value pledged, strengthening financial resilience.
