Coinbase and digital mortgage lender Better Home & Finance have closed the first conventional mortgage backed by Bitcoin—and guaranteed by government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae. The milestone, confirmed on Wednesday, opens the door for crypto holders to use their digital wealth toward homeownership without selling their assets.
The product works through a dual-loan structure: a standard Fannie Mae mortgage covers most of the home’s purchase price, while a separate crypto-backed loan funds the down payment. Borrowers must pledge collateral worth roughly 2.5 times the loan amount for Bitcoin, or 1.25 times for USDC. For a $500,000 home with a $100,000 down payment, a buyer would need about $250,000 in Bitcoin as collateral. Both loans carry the same interest rate and repayment schedule, and day-to-day price swings do not trigger margin calls or liquidations, according to Better.
The first borrowers, a Michigan couple named Joe and Amy, closed on their home using this structure. Coinbase plans a nationwide rollout for eligible borrowers starting in the coming months, initially supporting Bitcoin and the USDC stablecoin. The exchange says the offering lets crypto owners avoid capital gains taxes and retain exposure to potential price appreciation—a sharp departure from selling assets outright.
The launch follows a policy pivot from Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director Bill Pulte, who earlier this year ordered the mortgage watchdog to recognize digital assets held on centralized exchanges. That directive, aligned with the Trump administration’s ambition to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world,” reversed years of reluctance by mortgage overseers to treat volatile crypto as qualifying collateral.
Still, the product has drawn criticism. Senator Elizabeth Warren has warned that tying home loans to crypto could introduce “unnecessary risks” for consumers and the broader housing finance system. The high collateral requirements also suggest the product will mainly appeal to affluent borrowers with large crypto holdings, potentially limiting its near-term scale.
Coinbase Head of Consumer and Platform Partnerships Mark Troianovski framed the innovation as a step toward integrating digital wealth into everyday finance. “Tens of millions of Americans have built real wealth in digital assets,” he said. “That wealth now has a direct path to homeownership, creating new opportunities for the next generation.”
