Fannie Mae has partnered with Better Home & Finance and Coinbase to accept crypto-backed mortgages, allowing buyers to pledge holdings as a down payment.
The product, developed by mortgage lender Better Home & Finance and Coinbase, allows home buyers to pledge cryptocurrency holdings to secure a down payment on a Fannie-backed mortgage.
Under the arrangement, a buyer obtains a conventional 15- or 30-year Fannie-backed mortgage from Better. Instead of making a cash down payment, the buyer takes out a separate loan collateralised by either bitcoin or USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin. Once pledged, the crypto assets cannot be traded. Should the value of the collateral fall, the mortgage itself is unaffected, provided the borrower continues making monthly repayments. Interest rates on both loans are expected to range from levels comparable to standard Fannie Mae mortgages to 1.5 percentage points above them, meaning the overall cost of ownership may be meaningfully higher than a conventional mortgage with a cash down payment.
Regulatory backdrop and market context
The product arrives within a supportive regulatory environment. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, directed both entities in June 2025 to prepare to recognise crypto as an asset on mortgage applications, with that directive explicitly citing the Trump administration's backing of the crypto industry.
Demand for such products appears to have a credible basis. According to Gallup, approximately 14% of American adults owned cryptocurrency in 2025. A separate 2025 survey by Redfin found that close to 13% of millennial and Gen Z home buyers had sold crypto holdings to fund down payments, suggesting a segment of buyers already uses crypto as a path to homeownership, albeit through liquidation rather than collateralisation.
The rationale for pledging rather than selling is primarily tax-driven. Selling appreciated crypto triggers a capital gains liability, while pledging it as collateral avoids a taxable event while preserving market exposure.
Niche origins, broadening scope
Crypto-backed mortgages are not entirely new. Milo, a US-based fintech that has offered the product since 2022, had accumulated more than 100 customers as of this announcement. The company has noted that its typical clients often hold significant assets but do not fit conventional lending criteria, a profile not entirely unlike that of foreign nationals seeking to purchase US property.
What distinguishes the current announcement is Fannie's direct involvement. Because the GSE's acceptance of a product type typically signals a degree of standardisation, lenders beyond Better could eventually offer comparable structures under Fannie's guidelines. Whether the product scales beyond its current niche will depend on adoption rates, borrower risk appetite, and the trajectory of crypto valuations, which have retreated more than 40% from their October 2024 peak.
