A Michigan couple became the first homebuyers in the US to close a Fannie Mae-backed mortgage using Bitcoin as collateral. Lender Better processed the deal in partnership with Coinbase. The buyers skipped the BTC sale and the capital gains tax bill that would have come with it.
Who closed the deal and what happened?
Coinbase announced Thursday that borrowers identified as Joe and Amy closed the first conventional Fannie Mae-backed home loan in the US secured by Bitcoin. Lender Better developed the product alongside Coinbase starting in March 2026. The announcement came on the same day the couple signed the final documents. The offering is currently available to qualified borrowers and is expected to roll out nationally in the coming months.
Beyond Bitcoin, the program also accepts USDC from Circle as collateral. So holders of the leading dollar stablecoin already have access to this route to homeownership without selling their crypto.
How does the two-loan structure work?
The product splits into two separate loans. The first is a standard mortgage that fully meets Fannie Mae and federal government requirements. The second is a separate crypto-backed loan that takes a second lien position on the same property. Fannie Mae only sees the first loan and has no direct exposure to the cryptocurrency side of the deal.
Better's example: to cover a $100,000 down payment on a Fannie Mae loan, the borrower pledges $250,000 in Bitcoin held at Coinbase. That 2.5-to-1 ratio builds in enough buffer for a market correction without selling a single satoshi. Even if BTC falls by half from current levels, the collateral still covers the down payment amount.
- CEX custody required: Bitcoin must be held at Coinbase or another centralized exchange. Self-custodial wallets do not qualify for the program.
- Crypto is valued at current market price with no haircut applied. The 2.5-to-1 ratio is the built-in protection against volatility.
- Liquidation can only happen after 60 days of missed monthly payments, not because of Bitcoin price drops.
- The first loan (Fannie Mae) and the second (crypto-backed) are structured as separate independent agreements.
Why does keeping the Bitcoin make financial sense?
The old path to homeownership looked like this: sell Bitcoin, pay capital gains taxes, wire the money. The new path skips all three steps. Pledging crypto as collateral is not a taxable event under the US tax code, so the borrower avoids what could be a significant IRS bill.
If Bitcoin keeps rising after closing, the homeowner still captures that upside. This matters most for people who have held BTC for years and accumulated substantial unrealized gains they do not want to lock in just to cover a down payment.
"Tens of millions of Americans have built real wealth in digital assets. That wealth now has a direct path to homeownership, creating new opportunities for the next generation."
Mark Troianovski, Head of Consumer and Platform Partnerships, Coinbase, from the Coinbase press release, June 4, 2026
What regulatory shift made this possible?
Until 2025, US lenders simply did not count crypto when evaluating mortgage applications. Stocks, bonds, and cash were the standard. Change came after a directive from FHFA Director Bill Pulte, tied to the Trump administration's push to make the US a global crypto hub. The agency was told to recognize digital assets held on centralized exchanges. Self-custodial wallets do not count under the rule.
Wholesale lender Newrez took an earlier step in January 2026, accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum as collateral. But that program covered only non-agency products without Fannie Mae backing and applied a steep discount to the crypto values. The Coinbase-Better program is the first to carry full government guarantee status.
What comes next for Bitcoin mortgages?
Better plans to open the product to all qualified US borrowers within the next few months. Coinbase frames the move as the start of crypto holdings becoming proper collateral in mainstream lending. Expansion to other digital assets beyond Bitcoin and USDC could follow, though no timeline has been announced.
Not everyone in Washington is on board. Senator Elizabeth Warren argued in January that accepting crypto in mortgages "introduces unnecessary risks to consumers and poses serious safety and soundness concerns for the US housing and financial markets." That pressure did not stop the launch, but could shape future regulatory moves depending on how the balance of power in Congress shifts.
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