Bitcoin Mortgage: A $6.6 Trillion New Blue Ocean

On May 27, Cantor Fitzgerald launched a $2 billion Bitcoin collateralized loan program for institutional clients, with the first trading partners including crypto companies FalconX Ltd. and Maple Finance. As one of the official underwriters of U.S. Treasury bonds, the entry of this century-old Wall Street institution is seen as a highly symbolic breakthrough.

Bitcoin is transitioning from a stock asset to a financial instrument that can influence the credit system.

Just a month later, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency ( FHFA ), Bill Pulte (, sent out a significant signal. He has requested that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two pillars of American housing credit, explore the feasibility of incorporating cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin into the mortgage assessment system. This statement triggered a violent market reaction, with the price of Bitcoin rising nearly 2.87% within 24 hours, breaking through $108,000 again.

As someone has posed a soul-searching question: "In 2012, you needed 30,000 Bitcoins to buy a house, and now you only need 5. If housing prices have been decreasing in Bitcoin terms, why have they been rising in USD terms?" What impact will this Bitcoin mortgage have on the USD system?

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Is Bill Pulte's word credible?

Bill Pulte publicly called out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on social media, urging these two companies to get ready. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are two government-sponsored enterprises in the United States. Although they do not directly issue loans to homebuyers, they play a key "market maker" role in the secondary mortgage market by purchasing mortgages issued by private institutions. Their presence ensures the liquidity and sustainability of the loan market.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), established after the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, is responsible for regulating these two institutions. According to research reports, as of December 2024, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac together guaranteed $6.6 trillion in agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS), accounting for 50% of all outstanding mortgage debt in the United States. Ginnie Mae, which is fully backed by the U.S. government, is directly regulated by HUD and provided $2.5 billion in MBS, accounting for 20%.

Pulte's use of a "commanding" tone in his speech is due to his position as the chairman of FHFA, where he holds a "supervisory" board position in both companies. Since taking office in March 2025, he has implemented sweeping personnel and structural reforms, removing several board members from the two major institutions, appointing himself as chairman of the board, and firing 14 senior executives, including the CEO of Freddie Mac, for a comprehensive restructuring. This has significantly enhanced FHFA's control over government-sponsored enterprises )GSE(, and has involved negotiations with the White House and the Treasury Department to explore a public listing plan based on "implicit guarantees," with policy directions that have far-reaching effects on the financial system. Now, FHFA is beginning to explore the inclusion of crypto assets in the mortgage underwriting assessment system, marking a structural shift in the regulatory attitude towards crypto assets.

Pulte's personal background adds a layer of complexity to this news. As the third-generation leader of PulteGroup, the third largest residential construction company in the United States, he is also an heir from a real estate family, much like President Trump. He is one of the earliest federal officials among Trump's confidants to publicly support cryptocurrency. As early as 2019, he advocated for the charitable development of crypto assets on social media and disclosed his personal holdings of substantial amounts of Bitcoin and Solana. He has invested in high-volatility assets like GameStop and Marathon Digital, and unlike typical politicians, his investments seem to align more closely with the "Degen" image. Given his previous "crypto history", it appears he hopes to integrate crypto assets into the American home-buying system is not just a passing fancy.

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Divisions within the Government

On the other hand, there are also significant divisions within the government. Reports have revealed that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ) HUD ( is also exploring the use of stablecoins and blockchain technology to track federal housing assistance funds. A HUD official disclosed that the proponent of the blockchain solution is Irving Dennis ), who is the new Chief Deputy Financial Officer of HUD and was previously a partner at the global consulting giant Ernst & Young.

Unlike "semi-official GSEs" like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are overseen by the FHFA, Ginnie Mae, managed by HUD, is a 100% government agency. Therefore, discussions in this regard are more rigorous. The proposal faced intense internal opposition, with some arguing that it could trigger a crisis similar to the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008, and some officials even referred to it as "like using Monopoly money to distribute funds." An internal memorandum pointed out that HUD is not lacking in auditing and fund flow tracking capabilities; introducing blockchain and crypto payments would not only increase complexity but could also lead to fluctuations in the value of assistance funds and even compliance issues.

Currently, some platforms are offering mortgage products backed by Bitcoin. However, they face high loan rates and limited liquidity because they cannot securitize loans for sale to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Once Bitcoin is included in the federal mortgage underwriting system, it will not only lower borrowing rates but also mean that holders can unleash leverage effects, shifting from "HODL" to "building family asset allocation in the United States."

Of course, the risks cannot be ignored. As former SEC officials have warned, once unstable crypto assets are introduced into the $1.3 trillion collateralized loan system, any decoupling event in market value could lead to systemic shocks. Legal scholars have also stated that forcing technological change on the most vulnerable groups as a testing ground is extremely dangerous.

The core of this divergence lies in whether the United States is ready to officially incorporate Bitcoin into the public financial system as an "alternative investment." The research direction of the FHFA allows holders to directly use their Bitcoin balances to meet down payment or reserve requirements, which has far-reaching implications as it is the first time decentralized assets have exhibited a "housing leverage" effect. On the other hand, the volatility of crypto assets inherently presents challenges in valuation and risk assessment when used as "reserve assets." Moreover, whether to allow Bitcoin to be used for mortgage assessment in the case of significant price fluctuations involves issues of financial regulation, liquidity management, and even systemic stability.

What are the provisions of the new FHFA directive?

Due to the painful lessons of the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008, there are strict restrictions on asset compliance for current housing loan assessments in the United States. This means that even if borrowers own cryptocurrencies, they must first convert them into US dollars and deposit them in a US-regulated bank account for 60 days before being considered "mature funds" for assessment. The direction proposed by Pulte clearly intends to break through this procedural barrier.

The official order, Decision No. 2025-360, requires the two mortgage giants to consider cryptocurrency as a valid asset for borrowers' wealth diversification. So far, cryptocurrency has been excluded from mortgage risk assessments because borrowers typically do not convert their digital assets into dollars before the loan ends. The directive requires Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop proposals to incorporate cryptocurrency into the borrower reserves in their single-family mortgage risk assessments. Additionally, the directive stipulates that companies should calculate cryptocurrency holdings directly without converting them into dollars.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency ( FHFA ) has established clear "guidelines" on which cryptocurrencies meet the consideration criteria. Only assets issued on centralized exchanges regulated by the United States and fully compliant with relevant laws are eligible. Additionally, companies must incorporate risk mitigation measures in their assessments, including adjustments based on known cryptocurrency market volatility and appropriate risk reduction based on the proportion of cryptocurrency reserves held by the borrower.

Before any changes are implemented, companies must submit their proposals for approval to their respective boards of directors. After board approval, the proposal must be forwarded to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) for review and final authorization. The decision of the Federal Housing Finance Agency aligns with the broader approach of the federal government to recognize cryptocurrency in financial processes and is consistent with Pulte's statement, "In response to President Trump's vision of making the United States the world's cryptocurrency capital," the issuance of this directive reflects its commitment to positioning the United States as a leading jurisdiction for cryptocurrency development.

What does this actually mean?

As we all know, the underlying logic of using a highly liquid asset for staking in exchange for a low liquidity asset is valid. However, BTC is at the center point of interests on multiple dimensions. When it can truly be certified as an asset for U.S. staking loans, its "influence" may be comparable to the power of the "Bitcoin Reserve Act" proposed before Trump's presidency. This influence will not be limited to a single group; various groups such as the American public, financial institutions, and government departments will all be affected.

How many Americans will use Bitcoin to "buy a house"? How much can they "save" by using Bitcoin as an intermediary?

According to a consumer report, about 28% of American adults ( approximately 65 million ) hold cryptocurrencies, with the percentage of Gen Z and millennials being remarkably high, both having over half of people holding or having held crypto assets. As millennials and Gen Z occupy an increasing share of the U.S. real estate market, crypto assets may also become increasingly popular as a means of payment for purchasing homes.

A survey shows that the percentage of first-time homebuyers who "sell cryptocurrency to buy a house" gradually increased from 2019 to 2021, reaching nearly 12% by the end of 2021. Four years later, with the popularity of cryptocurrency, this percentage may have further increased.

As for how much money can be saved, someone shared a little story. In 2017, he sold 100 BTC to buy a house, and now this house is worth only $500,000, but the BTC he sold is now worth tens of millions of dollars. Because of this opportunity, he founded a company with the aim of allowing more people to hold Bitcoin and use it as collateral to buy houses.

This gives rise to the hypothesis that you purchased Bitcoin worth $50,000 in 2017. By 2025, its value will reach $500,000. Instead of selling your Bitcoin and paying $90,000 in capital gains tax, it is better to collaborate with a cryptocurrency mortgage institution, where you pledge $300,000 worth of BTC, and you receive a $300,000 mortgage at an interest rate of 9.25%. The lender will keep your Bitcoin in a custody account, you still own the Bitcoin, and you only need to pay an interest of about $27,000 annually ( which will be lower in the future ), saving you the $90,000 in taxes while still benefiting from the upward trend of BTC prices and inflation hedging rights, especially with the Great American Act raising the U.S. debt ceiling to $5 trillion.

According to data provided by Freddie Mac, the current annual interest rate for a 30-year mortgage in the United States generally fluctuates around 7%, while that for a 15-year mortgage fluctuates around 6%.

Some private institutions are now able to offer Bitcoin loan services with an LTV of around 50% and an annual interest rate of 9-10%, while some native BTC ecosystem lending platforms can lower the annual interest rate to 3.5% if the LTV is 33%. If calculated this way, according to a $500,000 mortgage over 15 years, you could save about $1,000 per month, resulting in a total interest reduction of 19.