Crypto goes further mainstream with product tied to Fannie-backed mortgages
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Crypto investors will soon have a new path to home financing, as Better Home & Finance and Coinbase today introduced a new product tied to Fannie Mae-backed mortgages.
Why it matters: The move is the latest sign of crypto pushing further into mainstream finance — and shows how digital assets are beginning to plug into traditional systems like the U.S. mortgage market.
Driving the news: Better, a mortgage company, and Coinbase announced a crypto-backed mortgage product that will allow people to pledge bitcoin or USDC stablecoins as collateral for a down payment.
- Borrowers would then receive a separate, standard Fannie Mae mortgage on the property.
- Both loans would carry the same interest rate and term, and borrowers would have one combined monthly payment.
Between the lines: The product allows crypto investors to hang onto their assets — allowing them to stay invested for the long term, while avoiding the tax hit from selling.
- That's designed to appeal to long-term crypto holders, and solve a problem with the traditional homeownership structure, which the companies say favors older generations.
The big picture: Coinbase and Better are positioning the product as a solution to knocking down the barriers of homeownership for younger people.
- 45% of Gen Z and Millennials report owning crypto, compared with 18% of older investors, according to Coinbase data.
- And 26% of crypto holders earn less than $75,000 annually, per the National Cryptocurrency Association's 2025 report.
- This comes as the typical first-time homebuyer in the U.S. is now 40 — the oldest on record, according to the National Association of Realtors.
What they're saying: Likely users "are both affluent individuals and young people who dared to try something new like crypto and won big because of that," Roby Robertson, chief commercial offier at Halcyon, who has worked in fintech and mortgage technology for more than a decade, tells Axios.
- He suspects customers will include both first time homebuyers and rental home buyers who are already using non-traditional, asset-based loans to finance them.
How it works: Better's crypto-backed mortgage product does not feature margin calls, meaning loan terms would not change if bitcoin drops in value.
- The borrowers' collateral would face liquidation only if they became 60 days delinquent on their loan.
- Additionally, borrowers who pledge stablecoins as collateral would earn rewards, according to Coinbase, which touts the feature as being able to help offset mortgage payments.
Reality check: This is a near-term win for Better and Coinbase, but the program is unlikely to be a broad-based first-time homebuyer product on Day 1, Emily Goodman, a partner at FS Vector, a financial services consulting firm, tells Axios.
- Scaling will require building new muscles and capabilities around crypto volatility, valuation and operational complexity.
- And state-by-state regulatory differences could slow adoption, even with a licensed mortgage lender in place.
The bottom line: Crypto-backed mortgages are another step toward making digital assets usable in the real economy — even if adoption starts small.
