Grant Cardone is doing something no traditional REIT can. His firm, Cardone Capital, bought a 366-unit apartment complex in Boca Raton for $235 million in cash — then layered roughly $100 million in Bitcoin on top to create a $335 million investment vehicle. The hybrid structure, Cardone says, can deliver annual returns between 22% and 32%. Traditional REITs are barred from holding Bitcoin by 1960s-era rules that require them to stick to real estate assets and income.
How the Boca deal was structured
The property came from a Blackstone-related lender at a significant discount. Its estimated replacement cost was around $400 million — Cardone paid $235 million in cash. He then parked about $100 million worth of Bitcoin into the same vehicle, effectively turning it into a Bitcoin-REIT hybrid. The structure generated a $50 million tax write-off for the deal alone. Cash flow is expected to return 4% a year, on top of depreciation benefits and periodic refinancing opportunities every 7–10 years.
Investor profile: mostly new to Bitcoin
About 80% of the investors in the Boca fund had zero prior exposure to Bitcoin, according to Cardone. That might shift. He has about 20 million online followers and roughly 20,000 current investors. He's been quietly amassing Bitcoin for years — Cardone first acquired it when he was paid 115 BTC for a speaking engagement in Las Vegas, and he still holds that stash. Over the last 17 months, he's assembled approximately $1 billion in real estate and around 2,000 Bitcoin across six deals now in contract.
What Cardone wants to do next
Cardone wants to disrupt the REIT sector. He figures capturing just 5% to 10% of the market could create significant value, and he's planning a potential public listing of the hybrid structure. He's also got a blunt pitch for why this works: “People gotta live someplace. You cannot live in your Bitcoin account.” Whether regulators will take a different view of a publicly traded vehicle that mixes real estate and crypto is an open question — and one Cardone will have to answer before any listing can proceed.
