Fannie Mae Accepts First Crypto-Backed Mortgage Product in Partnership with Coinbase

Fannie Mae began accepting a new mortgage product in March 2026 that lets homebuyers use cryptocurrency as collateral to fund a down payment, without selling their digital assets.

The product was developed by Better Home and Finance in partnership with Coinbase. Under the structure, a borrower takes out two loans: a standard 15- or 30-year conforming mortgage eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae, and a second loan collateralized by Bitcoin or USD Coin held in a Coinbase Prime custody account.

The pledged crypto cannot be traded while it serves as collateral. If the market value of the cryptocurrency drops, the loan terms remain unchanged as long as the borrower keeps making payments. Because the borrower is effectively financing 100 percent of the property value, monthly payments are generally higher than with a traditional mortgage that includes a cash down payment.

Interest rates on the crypto-backed loans range from in line with standard conforming rates to as much as 1.5 percentage points higher. Coinbase One members may qualify for a one percent rebate capped at $10,000 on the mortgage value.

Financial analysts have raised concerns about the cost-benefit math. Experts at MarketWise said the interest rate premium on these loans often exceeds the tax savings from avoiding the sale of crypto assets. They also noted that the products are only practical for a small subset of buyers who hold large amounts of cryptocurrency.

Some lenders, including LendFriend Mortgage, offer an alternative approach where crypto is treated as a qualifying asset rather than collateral. In that model, the lender applies a conservative valuation to the holdings and counts them toward the borrower's financial profile, similar to how retirement accounts are treated.

CNBC reported that the Fannie Mae announcement drew significant interest from real estate agents working with tech-sector clients in California and Texas.