Couple Get First Bitcoin-Backed Fannie Mae Mortgage

An Ann Arbor, Mich., couple have become the first to receive a traditional Fannie Mae-backed mortgage using bitcoin collateral for a downpayment.

Joe and Amy, in their early 30s, were ready to buy their first home but had most of their savings invested in bitcoin, and did not want to sell, giving up potential future upside while paying capital gains taxes.

They found a mortgage from Coinbase and Better Home & Finance Holding Company, which are offering Fannie Mae-backed mortgages to people who meet all eligibility requirements except the cash downpayment, as their assets are tied up in cryptocurrency rather than traditional savings.

“The 30-year fixed mortgage was designed for a generation that kept its savings in a bank account and built equity through a single employer. That’s not the financial reality of millions of qualified buyers today that are building real wealth in digital assets,” said Vishal Garg, founder and CEO of Better, in a statement. “We’re excited to expand access to all qualified borrowers to fix an ongoing issue: buyers who qualify on every measure that matters but cannot clear the down payment hurdle because their wealth isn’t where the system expects to find it.”

The companies plan to make the bitcoin-backed mortgages available to the general public this summer. The mortgages initially support bitcoin and USDC stablecoins, with more cryptocurrencies planned for the future.

Better said that 41% of pre-approved customers qualify on income and credit but don’t have the cash for a traditional down payment. At the same time, the median age of American first-time homebuyers reached 40, up from 32 a decade ago.

“Buying our first home has always been the goal, but I wasn’t willing to give up a decade of investing to get there,” said Joe, a software engineer. “With this mortgage, I didn’t have to choose. We closed on our home and my Bitcoin stayed intact. We didn’t have to liquidate, didn’t have to time the market, and didn’t have to start over financially to achieve our homeownership goals. That meant everything.”

Saying that Coinbase believes that bitcoin should work for the people who hold it rather than sit in a wallet, Coinbase Head of Consumer & Platform Partnerships Mark Troianovski said, “funding the first token-backed conforming mortgage is one of the most tangible demonstrations of that vision that we have seen. Tens of millions of Americans have built real wealth in digital assets. That wealth now has a direct path to homeownership, creating new opportunities for the next generation of homebuyers.”