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Nearly four months after crypto exchange Coinbase and the Federal National Mortgage Association—better known as Fannie Mae—announced their partnership, the companies have now disclosed what they describe as the first-ever mortgage backed by crypto collateral.
No Need To Sell Crypto
The concept was originally unveiled in March, when Better Home & Finance and Coinbase announced a joint mortgage product designed for prospective homebuyers who hold crypto but struggle with the cash requirements of traditional financing.
Instead of requiring customers to liquidate their digital holdings to raise down payment funds, the Coinbase program allows borrowers to pledge crypto—such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Circle’s USDC stablecoin held in a Coinbase account—so those holdings can secure a separate loan intended to cover the down payment.
Importantly, the actual home mortgage remains a conventional Fannie Mae–backed loan, meaning the structure is built around the existing conforming mortgage framework rather than replacing it with a new, fully crypto-based mortgage system.
In Thursday’s update, Better Home & Finance and Coinbase said the first loan has already been closed. The borrowers are Joe and Amy, a married couple in their early 30s from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Coinbase reported that both had meaningful savings in digital assets, but ran into a challenge that blocks many qualified buyers: they didn’t have enough cash available for a traditional down payment.
According to the companies, instead of selling their long-term Bitcoin position—an action that could trigger capital gains taxes and potentially force investors to exit exposure—they used the program to pledge their crypto as collateral. They then completed the purchase of their first home.
Coinbase Sees New Path To Homeownership
Joe, a software engineer, explained that homeownership has been the goal for some time, but he wasn’t willing to give up his long-term investment plan simply to qualify for a down payment.
He said the mortgage helped him avoid liquidating his Bitcoin, avoid having to time the market, and avoid having to reset his finances in a way that would delay his path to buying a home. Joe said:
We closed on our home, and my Bitcoin stayed intact. We didn’t have to liquidate, didn’t have to time the market, and didn’t have to start over financially to achieve our homeownership goals. That meant everything.
Coinbase framed the milestone as part of a broader message about utility for crypto holders. Mark Troianovski, Head of Consumer & Platform Partnerships at Coinbase, said the company believes Bitcoin should do more than sit idle in a wallet.
He described the first token-backed conforming mortgage as a concrete example of that idea and pointed to the scale of digital-asset ownership in the US. Troianovski further stated:
Funding the first token-backed conforming mortgage is one of the most tangible demonstrations of that vision that we have seen. 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 of homebuyers.
Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
