In brief
- The FHFA has instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to begin preparing to accept cryptocurrency as mortgage assets.
- Director William Pulte framed the move as aligning with a broader vision of the Trump Administration.
- The order sparked mixed reactions, with praise for innovation and criticism over restrictions on self-custody.
The U.S. housing market is bracing for a potential shakeup by the crypto industry.
On Wednesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to begin preparing to accept crypto as a form of mortgage-related payment.
The directive, announced on X by FHFA Director William Pulte, marks the first major move to incorporate digital assets into the federal mortgage system.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are U.S. government-backed firms that buy mortgages from lenders, package them into securities, and guarantee payments to investors.
The announcement comes two days after Pulte said he instructed the companies to study how crypto might factor into mortgage qualification.
“After significant studying, and in keeping with President Trump’s vision to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world, today I ordered the Great Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare their businesses to count cryptocurrency as an asset for a mortgage,” Pulte wrote in a post on X. “So ordered.”
According to the directive, the FHFA found that allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to consider more types of borrower assets, such as crypto, could help them better evaluate loan risk and expand access to homeownership for qualified borrowers.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now tasked with determining how crypto can be treated as a qualifying asset.
Pulte did not specify which cryptos would be accepted. Reactions on X were mixed, with some praising the move as a win for the industry.
“Bitcoin has been recognized as a reserve asset by the U.S. housing system,” Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor wrote on X. “A defining moment for institutional BTC adoption and collateral recognition.”
Others criticized a stipulation requiring crypto assets to be held on centralized exchanges, not self-custody wallets.
“Each Enterprise is directed to consider only cryptocurrency assets that can be evidenced and stored on a U.S.-regulated centralized exchange subject to all applicable laws,” the FHFA wrote.
At the same time, Housecoin, a housing-themed meme coin on the Solana blockchain, jumped 20% today to $0.24 in response to the news.
“1 House = 1 Housecoin has never sounded so good,” the Housecoin account said on X.
The FHFA did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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