Potential homebuyers who have invested in certain cryptocurrencies will be able to use their holdings as collateral to finance a down payment on a home as part of a new mortgage offer.
Real estate services company Better Home & Finance Holding Co. plans to roll out the cryptocurrency-backed mortgage sometime in the next three months in partnership with cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase, the companies said in a press release Thursday.
“Better was founded to make homeownership more accessible for all Americans, and this partnership with Coinbase introduces a new path to making the American dream a reality for the 52 million Americans who own digital assets,” Better CEO Vishal Garg said in the statement.
The use of cryptocurrencies to buy a home remains generally limited. Among National Association of Realtors respondents of people who bought a home between July 2024 and June 2025, only 1% of those who made a down payment said they used the proceeds from the sale of cryptocurrency.
However, Better’s cryptocurrency-backed mortgage would not require borrowers to sell their cryptocurrency investments to fund their down payment. Instead, borrowers who qualify for the mortgage would only have to pledge such holdings and transfer them to Coinbase as collateral for their down payment.
This allows the cryptocurrency investor to not have to lose potential future gains in the value of their cryptocurrencies as they would if they sold their holdings for cash.
If the value of your cryptocurrency falls, the mortgage terms remain unchanged and no additional collateral is required, the companies noted in the statement. However, borrowers’ crypto collateral would be at risk of liquidation if they fail to make mortgage payments for 60 days.
The only types of cryptocurrencies that borrowers will be able to offer as collateral for Better’s crypto-backed mortgage are Bitcoin and USDC, a type of cryptocurrency that is typically bought and sold for $1, the companies said.
It is best to note that the cryptocurrency-backed mortgage is “designed in accordance with Fannie Mae guidelines.” That means they can be guaranteed by the mortgage giant, making them eligible for “significantly lower interest rates” than other cryptocurrency-backed loans, the companies said.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have been under government control since the Great Recession, buy mortgages from banks that meet their risk criteria, helping provide liquidity to the housing market.
Banks seeking to make mortgages that qualify for purchase by mortgage giants generally have not considered a borrower’s cryptocurrency holdings until they were sold or converted to dollars.