First Fannie Mae-Backed Bitcoin Mortgage Closes in the U.S.

A Michigan couple helped make history when they recently closed on the first government-guaranteed mortgage secured by Bitcoin, Coinbase announced on Thursday. Working with mortgage lender Better, the exchange said it had enabled Joe and Amy to secure a Fannie Mae-backed home loan by pledging Bitcoin as collateral for their down payment, allowing them to benefit from the government-sponsored enterprise's safety net.

The product, first announced in March, is expected to roll out to qualified borrowers across the country in the coming months, while also supporting Circle's USDC stablecoin initially. Rather than buying homes directly with Bitcoin, borrowers receive two loans: a standard mortgage that strictly plays by the federal government's and Fannie Mae's rules, alongside a second collateralized loan tied to crypto as a lien on the home. The crypto collateral remains in custody throughout the life of the loan and is returned upon repayment. Coinbase has said borrowers can access 15-year and 30-year fixed-rate options, and that Bitcoin's price volatility does not directly affect mortgage terms under Better's structure.

"Tens of millions of Americans have built real wealth in digital assets," Coinbase Head of Consumer and Platform Partnerships Mark Troianovski said in a statement. "That wealth now has a direct path to homeownership, creating new opportunities for the next generation." By pledging digital assets rather than fully liquidating them, Coinbase said homeowners can avoid capital gains taxes and keep their future upside intact.

The mortgage system had long viewed crypto as too volatile to count toward a down payment on a conventional mortgage, yet gears began shifting last year after Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, ordered the mortgage watchdog to better align with President Trump's vision for making the U.S. the "crypto capital of the world." The agency stipulated at the time that digital assets held in a self-custodial wallet should not be considered, only those held on centralized exchanges. Historically, lenders have only looked at assets such as stocks and bonds when evaluating homebuyers.

Pulte's directive wasn't welcomed entirely on Capitol Hill. In January, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) contended that the shift would introduce "unnecessary risks to consumers and pose serious safety and soundness concerns for the U.S. housing and financial markets." That same month, national wholesale lender Newrez said it would begin recognizing Bitcoin and Ethereum, billing itself as the first major provider to do so, though the offering was limited to "non-agency products" with a steep discount applied to crypto holdings. Pulte highlighted the move on X, writing simply: "it begins."

The structure is not without its guardrails. Coinbase has said Bitcoin-backed down payment loans require collateral worth at least 250% of the loan amount—for instance, Better allows buyers to cover a $100,000 down payment on a Fannie Mae-backed loan by placing a second lien on the home and pledging $250,000 in Bitcoin. Following a 60-day payment delinquency, Better says it may decide to liquidate pledged crypto. And unlike the exchange's Bitcoin-backed lending product, revived last year, price swings don't produce liquidations, with "price volatility has absolutely no impact," according to Better's website—though that reassurance may feel thinner given that Bitcoin has dropped roughly 17% over four days, from nearly $74,000 on Monday to Thursday's intraday low of $61,556, per CoinGecko data, with total crypto market liquidations hitting $4.47 billion.

The nationwide rollout later this summer may offer a clearer picture of whether demand for the product extends beyond early crypto-native adopters—or whether the housing market, long a bastion of traditional finance, is finally ready to share a balance sheet with Bitcoin.