This month, UBC spoke with Daniel Holbrook, founder of BitHedge, a new principal-protected Bitcoin investment structure backed by commercial real estate equity. Daniel draws on more than a decade of valuation and investment work in commercial real estate to create a bridge between conservative investors and property owners seeking access to crypto upside.
UBC: Let’s get started with talking about BitHedge and how that’s going.
Daniel Holbrook: It’s a principal-protected Bitcoin investment structure, using real estate as the collateral to protect the investment. It emerged from my background—I spent 15 years in commercial real estate—and I found a way to partner the emerging crypto industry with this traditional asset class in a way that offers a value-proposition to both sides.
UBC: And it’s still in the early phases?
Daniel Holbrook: Yeah. The first deal is being formed right now. I have investors committed, and we’re going through the legal process, selecting service providers, and targeting a close for early 2026.
UBC: Has the legal process been difficult, given the lack of crypto legislation?
Daniel Holbrook: Not too much from the legislative side, because it’s a financial structure. There are a lot of attorneys familiar with financial structures, but it’s been hard to find attorneys who understand the crypto side, the real estate side, and the fund or financial product side. Luckily there are talented people here in Utah who cover all of those.
UBC: Can you explain how the product functions and who it’s for?
Daniel Holbrook: It’s a two-party product. On one side are conservative investors looking for downside protection. On the other side are commercial real estate owners with a lot of equity tied up in real estate that’s not yielding much, but who want exposure to Bitcoin’s upside without selling or refinancing. BitHedge allows them to collateralize their equity and have that equity start earning as Bitcoin appreciates. By putting the two parties together, it creates something each of them want. A technical way to think about it is a swap of preferences.
UBC: You explored tokenization earlier. What made this idea stand out?
Daniel Holbrook: I looked into several tokenization opportunities, but they didn’t create the value I hoped. A lot of tokenization projects don’t solve an immediate problem—they’re a little early. The partnership between Bitcoin and real estate was the first thing I saw that solved real problems for both sides and could be structured right now.
UBC: What is it about tokenizing real estate that feels early?
Daniel Holbrook: Real estate is hard to fractionalize because you’re dividing ownership among many people. I own and manage real estate myself—it’s not something that can be done by committee easily. One unique thing about my structure is the real estate stays external. We have contractual relationships that allow owners to participate in the upside and share the risk on the downside, but they retain full ownership and operation. Participating in BitHedge doesn’t impact their balance sheet or cash flows.
UBC: So if something went wrong, is there high risk to the real estate?
Daniel Holbrook: We’re trying to mitigate risk for our investors and for the real estate owners. First, we chose a 5-year hold period. Historically, Bitcoin has always been higher over a five year hold period. To further protect the RE owners, we have an optional exit at a 2x price increase. This has always happened within a five year period as well. So the real estate owners will only have to pay back the investors for a loss in bitcoin if two triggers fail, which have never failed yet. Naturally, the RE partners will be bullish bitcoin, or they should not partner with bitHedge.
UBC: How did you get involved in crypto?
Daniel Holbrook: Through blockchain as a technology and infrastructure—I saw how blockchain will impact real estate ownership and finance. Bitcoin was the original financial application, and 2025 was interesting because regulators shifted from opposition to adoption. Large funds and even government institutions began adopting Bitcoin, which gave it the critical mass it needed.
UBC: Why build in Utah?
Daniel Holbrook: Utah’s always been my favorite state. There’s a strong entrepreneurial and collaborative culture. I’ve found great resources and other founders to talk to. And it’s not just local companies—people employed by national or international companies choose to live here for the environment and community. That attracts really talented people to Utah.
UBC (Aaron): How do you differentiate from a platform like Lofty?
Daniel Holbrook: Lofty tokenizes and fractionalizes real estate ownership. I’m using real estate equity to secure investments in Bitcoin. I’m more a Bitcoin investment vehicle—the most conservative way someone can access Bitcoin. Competitors to me would be more like gold-backed Bitcoin. I think gold and Bitcoin are too correlated. I’d rather hedge with commercial real estate, which is largely uncorrelated.
UBC (Aaron): This will be for commercial only right now?
Daniel Holbrook: Yeah. We’re targeting institutional investors—family offices, funds of funds, and high-net-worth individuals making larger investments. Down the road, I think this could be tokenized and allow people to buy small shares of Bitcoin but still have protective mechanisms in place.