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: 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 a year, 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 officer at Halcyon, who has worked in fintech and mortgage technology for more than a decade, tells Axios.

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Apple is expanding its American Manufacturing Program, announcing four new partners to its domestic supply chain, Axios' Pete Gannon writes.

Zoom in: Bosch, Cirrus Logic, TDK and Qnity Electronics will manufacture essential materials and components in the U.S. for Apple products sold around the world, the company said today.

• It committed to spend $400 million for these new programs through 2030.

Zoom out: The AMP, launched in August 2025, is a key part of a $600 billion, four-year commitment Apple has made to U.S. manufacturing.

• The program's initial partners include Amkor, Applied Materials, Broadcom, Coherent, Corning, GlobalFoundries, GlobalWafers America, MP Materials, Samsung, and Texas Instruments.

📦 The U.S. Postal Service is seeking to add its first-ever fuel surcharge on packages — an 8% increase — as oil and diesel prices surge. (Axios)

🤖 Meta said it is boosting its spending commitment on a planned West Texas data center by more than 6x, to $10 billion. (CNBC)

🚙 Stellantis had to shut down production at a Jeep Cherokee plant in Mexico due to an ongoing supplier dispute. (WSJ)

Taco Bell is letting U.S. fans decide its next menu import — and leaning into global flavors to do it, Axios' Kelly Tyko writes.

• 🗳️ The fast-food chain launched its first-ever Global Taco Vote today and is asking rewards members to pick between two international favorites: Thailand's Kickin' Chicken Taco or India's Butter Chicken Taco.

The big picture: It's the latest example of brands turning product launches into interactive marketing — and mining overseas menus for fresh ideas.

How it works: Fans can vote once a day in the Taco Bell app through April 1. The winner will be revealed April 2 on Substack.

• The winning taco is slated for a limited U.S. debut later this year.

💭 Kelly's thought bubble: Taco Bell isn't just crowdsourcing a taco — it's betting the next U.S. hit might already be a global favorite. Butter Chicken could have the edge.