So I have been running with this crazy idea for a couple months now and I can't break it - please help if you can...
I am accepting bitcoin from my tenants instead of USD - I offer them a 50/50 split of any USD appreciation of that bitcoin for up to 6 months after they pay it to me. They are in complete control of when they choose to enact that. That's it...at least the short version... I can't see why this doesn't work in the long-term? I can't see why anyone wouldn't pay using bitcoin if given this option? I can't get this thought out of my head...of course there is a lot more to this topic and if you are interested please read on...
And yes - please feel free to use this concept, adopt it, adapt it, design an app for it...whatever you want? Maybe mention me but I am just a poor schmuck trying to offer value and utilize this technology in a manner that will benefit both myself, the network, and the rest of the world. (I know I should set higher goals)
Anyway if you're still reading here we gooooo:
This idea needs an app to automate it - both the time scale and the % split needs to be adjustable so that it can be used in transactions (txs) both large and small - It also needs to be transparent (the provider of the btc needs to be able to see the receiver has the ability to hold up to their end of the tx whenever the request is made for the (refund, return, credit). This is a sticky point right now due to tax implications I think - whether the business is issuing a credit or processing it as a return or refund? I haven't worked this out yet...
I believe this concept drives or accelerates adoption as "normies" would want to use this app to pay for anything and everything - businesses using the app would be sought out and would be market leaders in providing this benefit to their customers - Now I am going to focus on "affordable housing" as that is my area of expertise and is an area that could really benefit a lot of people in a relatively short time frame.
My tenant that is using this stands to reduce their rent by hundreds of dollars as of today...the rent they paid for using bitcoin in november of last year is worth $728.90 more than when they sent it to me. So right now they could ask me to split it with them and I would provide them $364.45 - when their original payment to me was $855.00 for that month - this is almost cutting their rent in half - now obviously this number will fluctuate given bitcoins value fluctuations but I look at it like this....
They know their financial situation - they know themselves - they can be greedy and hold out for a higher number or they can lock in any amount of credit/return and keep chugging away - it matters not to me as my value is there from the get go, and I make my business cash flow/btc flow decisions based on my books not theirs...
I think the hardest thing for me to get my head around in hatching this stupid plan was basing it on the idea that bitcoins price is going to go up forever... now obviously there is volatility to consider but the way I think about it and we all probably should is that if we truly believe in this technology, we need to put up or shut up - put our money where our mouths are - and truly build businesses that function based on a bitcoin standard and run them with current market conditions taken into consideration. It's a paradigm change from operating in a FIAT world with bitcoin on the side, to that of its a BITCOIN world with fiat on the side!
This gets even deeper if you want to go down another level:
Now we can talk about demonetizing the world's current "stores of value" and how that works as we proceed forward into our BITCOIN world....well there are a lot of peeps thinking this will be scary, crazy, full of chaos and war and uncertainty....and honestly I thought the same - but I couldn't live with "oh well" lets just keep going and see what breaks - I really don't like seeing suffering if it can be prevented - well we bitcoiners need to build the shit that will help prevent that and this is one way I can see that happening...
When/as businesses begin putting bitcoin onto their balance sheets or incorporating it into their business models this demonetization happens automatically - we just needs to ensure it happens in as orderly a manner as we can. We can obviously wait to the world to implode under its own debt and the economy crashes and we have to rebuild everything - or what I believe is happening and am pushing to accelerate - we simply start operating businesses that are bitcoin based and as others around us see it working for us they will jump on board the bandwagon :) As I carry my "reserves" for my properties in btc, I am not having to worry about refinancing my property, or adding superfluous amenities to attract residents and provide more value to them to justify rising rents...Its the opposite - I can let the professionals who run gyms be the gym or whatever and I can actually lower my rent as my btc reserve value increases over time...I don't have to worry about what an appraisal says my property is worth in FIAT terms as I don't have to chase better interest rates or look to pull capital out of the building to pay investors as I can do that from the increased value of my btc reserves? I am sure I could leverage the eff out of it and attempt to squeeze every last FIAT or bitcoin value out of the properties as I can (and people will) but if I want my business to be around for future generations I have to think longer term...I have to think how (Thank you Jeff Booth) if the long term price of manufacturing products always falls to the minimum cost of production - any supposed value of my buildings in FIAT terms is really backwards thinking and won't be there under a bitcoin standard and I have to plan today for the value of my building to fall in bitcoin terms and start providing a different kind of value to my tenants or they will move out and go down the street to the next company that is offering something like this?
This helps solve the affordability crisis in housing - this helps solve the financial despair renters feel from constantly facing rent increases - this helps companies provide a product that is financially viable for the long term and isn't dependent on government subsides or tax credits in order to make the mortgage payment.
Of course this is way easier if you haven't already fallen victim to the FIAT trap of real estate, and haven't leveraged your properties to the hilt... if you have solid financial footing already you can make this transition way quicker than your competitors and you will may even end up growing faster than them and buying their buildings during the upcoming firesale that is certainly coming our way.
If you made it this far - thank you and I hope to read some good comments about how crazy I am and hopefully some constructive critiques about things I may not be taking into consideration.
Thank you,
Jason