TLDR: Georgist LVT would accelerate the store of value use case shift away from real estate, and toward Bitcoin.

Disclaimer: To keep the conversation on topic, we should prevent the discussion from delving too deeply into Georgism for its own merits, and instead focus on its potential implications for Bitcoin.

Mods if you could provide some guidance here to keep the post live that would be most appreciated!

Intro

Most of you here reading this likely agree with me, that Bitcoin is the greatest store of value asset ever created. With that in mind, I think it's interesting to consider the store of value use case as it exists throughout the entire economy, and how different policies could increase Bitcoin's share against competing assets.

Gold is the most obvious direct comparison. It has an order of magnitude larger market cap, and Bitcoin perfects its monetary qualities. On a long enough time horizon, you can see how through technological innovation, custodial issues, etc. that a lot of savings currently in gold could shift toward Bitcoin. At some point in the future, gold may even lose most of its scarce qualities if we get really good at asteroid mining or hydrometallurgy (although to be fair, this is bordering on sci-fi given current tech).

I bring up gold first, just to clearly illustrate with a more direct example the core assumption behind my argument: Bitcoin is competing in a store of value marketplace, in which it has a massive opportunity to gain in market share.

The core of my argument, however, applies the same principles to the real estate market.

The Monetization of Real Estate

Real estate's market cap is roughly $55T in the US, and almost $400T globally. The monetization of real estate is talked about frequently in Bitcoin circles, alongside speculation that capital from real estate could flow into other asset classes like BTC under the right conditions. In this case, "monetization" basically means that people treat real estate as a store of value.

Although it's obvious real estate has intrinsic qualities that BTC can't fully replicate (you can do stuff on it like touch grass, and collect economic rent), I do largely agree with that sentiment; it's obvious many individuals and companies hold real estate as a way to park wealth or speculate on appreciation.

Apart from real estate's inherent qualities, a non-insignificant portion of real estate owners would sell or downsize, if it didn't function properly as a store of value asset.

This leads me to why as a Bitcoiner, the Georgist LVT is something I find very intriguing, as land value tax radically undermines real estate's ability to store wealth.

Quick Primer on Land Value Tax

The goal of a land value tax is to fully capture the rental value of a piece of property, without taking any private improvements into consideration. As a very simple example, let's say a plot of land with nothing on it could attract a rent of $1,000. Alice purchases the land, and builds an apartment complex that generates $3,000 in total rent. A 100% LVT would tax the initial $1,000, leaving her with $2,000 profit.

Bob purchases an identical parcel right next door, but doesn't want to build anything on it, since he's only using it to park wealth. The LVT still taxes him the same $1,000 for his exclusive right to use that land.

You can see how with a traditional property tax system, Alice is punished when using her land for its intrinsic qualities (doing stuff, touching grass), and rewarded with an LVT. The opposite is true for Bob. By purely owning land for its monetary qualities, Bob is rewarded in a traditional property tax system (he doesn't build anything that hikes his taxes), and punished in an LVT system.

LVT Impact on Real Estate & BTC

Under an LVT tax scheme then, if Bob was only interested in holding land for its monetary qualities, he will sell the land and shift his capital toward other store of value assets. Granted, it isn't a guarantee that 100% of that is flowing into Bitcoin specifically, but it is still true that Bob's capital is looking for a new home.

He could very well put the money into bonds, stocks, gold, artwork, etc. but if there are a million Bobs out there facing a similar situation, I think a significant portion of that misplaced capital flows into Bitcoin instead. Grant Cardone himself, whatever you think about the guy, is just one obvious and public example of a real estate investor who has already pivoted millions into Bitcoin, away from his personal real estate portfolio.

Conclusion

Bitcoin is already a far superior store of value when compared to real estate. In regards to liquidity, portability, divisibility, fungibility, and even scarcity, it isn't a competition. The reality of our legacy economy though, is that far more value is stored inside the inferior asset class.

I'm a Georgist and LVT supporter for many other reasons beyond the potential it has on strengthening Bitcoin, but it's obvious to me that an opportunity exists to accelerate capital flows toward the superior store of value.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed the post, please let me know what you think, or if you see any flaws in my line of argumentation.