Coinbase And Better Home & Finance Launch Fannie Mae-Backed Mortgage Down Payments With Bitcoin Collateral By Summer 2026

Coinbase will allow qualified borrowers to pledge digital assets to fund Fannie Mae-backed mortgage down payments beginning “by summer 2026,” according to a Thursday notice from Coinbase and its partner, Better Home & Finance.

The mortgage structure plan will initially let borrowers use Bitcoin BTCUSD or USDC USDCUSD as collateral for loans to fund down payments, with the initiative first announced in March.

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Morningstar said Better Home & Finance Holding Company (NASDAQ: BETR) and Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) announced the funding of the first Fannie Mae-backed mortgage backed by Bitcoin in the United States and confirmed plans to make the product available nationwide by Summer 2026.

Morningstar also reported that Better’s product initially supports Bitcoin and USDC and that it allows borrowers to pledge digital assets as collateral without liquidating their holdings.

DiarioBitcoin described the inaugural deal as a first hipoteca respaldada por Fannie Mae con Bitcoin como colateral in which Joe and Amy, a couple from Ann Arbor, Michigan, closed the loan using their Bitcoin as a guarantee for the down payment without selling their assets.

Better founder and CEO Vishal Garg said the plan is meant to fix an ongoing issue, telling readers: “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.”

Cointelegraph framed the regulatory backdrop by saying that in June 2025 the US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to consider crypto as an asset in mortgage risk assessments without requiring a conversion into fiat.

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TradingView reported that some US lawmakers have accused FHFA head Bill Pulte of being “unduly influenced” by President Donald Trump, and it quoted a July 2025 letter warning that “Expanding underwriting criteria to include the consideration of unconverted cryptocurrency assets could pose risks to the stability of the housing market and the financial system.”

In the same TradingView account, Republican lawmakers including crypto proponent Cynthia Lummis proposed codifying the FHFA order into law, and it said she introduced the 21st Century Mortgage Act in July 2025.

DiarioBitcoin added that the milestone “enfrenta críticas de figuras como Elizabeth Warren,” while also citing Coinbase’s custody and the FHFA directive as enabling the deal.

DiarioBitcoin said the product combines a standard Fannie Mae mortgage with a second private loan secured by crypto and described it as avoiding “llamadas de margen” and liquidations tied to volatility.

It also reported that the Bitcoin or USDC offered as collateral remains under custody of Coinbase Prime during the life of the credit, and that the guarantee is returned in full when the loan is fully repaid.

DiarioBitcoin further stated that the only circumstance that can trigger a liquidation is a delinquency of at least 60 days on payments, and it gave collateral coverage requirements of 250% for Bitcoin and 125% for USDC.

Morningstar said the first loan was closed by Joe and Amy in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and it quoted Joe saying, “With this mortgage, I didn’t have to choose. We closed on our home and my Bitcoin stayed intact.”

TradingView added that other mortgage lenders have made similar moves since the FHFA order, including Newrez beginning in February to allow borrowers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to qualify for a mortgage application.