TL;DR:
- Fannie Mae will accept crypto-backed mortgages for the first time, with Bitcoin and USDC as the initial collateral assets.
- The product was developed alongside Better Home & Finance and Coinbase, which will custody the assets through Coinbase Prime.
- Borrowers will not need to liquidate their crypto holdings; assets are returned once the loan is fully repaid.
Fannie Mae announced it will accept crypto-backed mortgages for the first time, seeking to strengthen the role of cryptocurrencies within the U.S. real estate system. The product was developed in partnership with Better Home & Finance and Coinbase. It will initially support Bitcoin and USDC as collateral, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
The proposed mechanism prevents borrowers from having to liquidate their positions to fund the down payment. Instead, the assets remain in custody through Coinbase Prime for the duration of the loan and are returned once the debt is fully settled. The structure uses a separate loan with overcollateralization to finance the initial payment, so that the primary mortgage backed by Fannie Mae is not exposed to price fluctuations in crypto assets.
Fannie Mae and the Real Estate Market Accelerate Their Technological Transition
Fannie Mae holds a central place in the U.S. housing system, as it backs a substantial portion of the country’s mortgages. Any modification to its underwriting criteria carries implications that go beyond the product itself, because it signals a shift in the way traditional financial institutions value digital assets as real collateral.
Until now, those who had accumulated wealth in cryptocurrencies had to convert it to cash in order to access conventional mortgage credit, giving up their exposure to those assets. Fannie Mae’s new scheme allows borrowers to maintain that exposure while using the value of their holdings to qualify for the loan.
A phenomenon of regulatory and policy expansion favorable to cryptocurrencies is taking shape under the administration of President Donald Trump, who has pushed measures to boost the penetration of digital assets in retirement markets and investment products. Institutions such as the NYSE and Nasdaq are also advancing in the integration of tokenization technology to bring Wall Street closer to decentralized finance.
