Coinbase and Fannie Mae have closed the first-ever mortgage backed by crypto collateral, putting a married couple from Ann Arbor, Michigan, into a home without forcing them to sell their Bitcoin. The loan — a conventional Fannie Mae–backed mortgage — was paired with a separate down payment loan secured by digital assets held on Coinbase. The program was originally announced in March 2025 by Better Home & Finance and Coinbase.
The borrowers
Joe and Amy, both in their early 30s, are the first to use the deal. Joe, a software engineer, said they wanted to keep their Bitcoin intact. By pledging it as collateral for a down payment loan instead of selling, they avoided capital gains taxes and the hassle of timing the market or resetting their finances. The couple did not disclose the exact amount of crypto they used.
How it works
The mortgage itself is a standard conforming loan backed by Fannie Mae — not a crypto-native product. The crypto piece is a separate loan from Better Home & Finance, secured by Bitcoin or USDC held at Coinbase. Borrowers get cash for the down payment without liquidating their digital assets. That cash then goes toward a traditional home loan underwritten by Fannie Mae guidelines.
Coinbase’s Mark Troianovski said the token-backed conforming mortgage shows crypto wealth can be directly channeled into homeownership, a point aimed at the tens of millions of Americans who hold digital assets but may lack enough cash for a conventional down payment. The structure also sidesteps a common problem: the tax hit from selling crypto to raise money for a house.
The timing isn't accidental. Mortgage rates have stayed elevated through early 2026, putting pressure on first-time buyers. A program that lets people keep their crypto positions — and avoids triggering a taxable event — offers an alternate path into the housing market.
Whether this first loan opens the door for many more will depend on appetite from other lenders and Fannie Mae's willingness to back similar structures. For now, Joe and Amy own a home in Ann Arbor, and their Bitcoin never moved.
