Bitcoin Enters the Mortgage Game: How U.S. Housing Giants Are Betting on Crypto

The Quiet Coup in Washington

On June 25, Bill Pulte—the grandson of America’s largest homebuilder—announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must now explore integrating Bitcoin into mortgage evaluation systems. No fanfare. No press conference. Just a single tweet from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director.

Yet the market didn’t miss it.

Bitcoin surged 2.2%, breaking $107,000 and hitting a 66% dominance share in the total crypto market cap.

This isn’t hype. It’s signaling.

Who Are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

These aren’t banks. They’re government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that act as the backbone of America’s secondary mortgage market.

Together, they back roughly 70% of all conventional home loans in the U.S.—a system so central that if they move, everything else follows.

Think of them as Wall Street meets housing policy: they buy mortgages from lenders, package them into securities, then sell them to investors—making sure liquidity never dries up.

Now? They’re being asked to consider Bitcoin as collateral.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Right now, if you want to use Bitcoin for a down payment, you have to sell it first—convert it into USD—then deposit it into a bank account for at least 60 days to qualify as “mature” funds.

That means selling your coins at potentially low prices just to secure housing.

Under Pulte’s mandate? That could change.

The FHFA is evaluating whether crypto can be assessed directly—not via fiat conversion but by valuation methods tailored to volatility: haircuts, holding periods, custody standards… classic risk management tools adapted for digital assets.

Stablecoins like USDC or USDT? Might get special treatment—if regulators trust their reserves and transparency protocols are solid enough.

Private Players Already Ahead of the Curve

While government bodies debate, startups are already deploying real products:

• Milo Credit launched in 2022 offering crypto-backed mortgages; over $65 million issued by early 2025.
• Figure Technologies, led by ex-SoFi CEO Mike Cagney, offers loans up to $20M secured by digital assets.
• Ledn allows users to borrow up to 50% LTV against their Bitcoin holdings via its ‘Savings Account’.

The catch? These loans aren’t eligible for sale back to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac—and thus lack institutional backing and lower rates come with higher risk and tighter terms due to no systemic liquidity support.

The dream? A future where your BTC stash isn’t locked away—it’s actively working for you through mortgage financing without forced liquidation.

The path ahead is still rocky: regulation lagging behind innovation; price swings threatening loan-to-value ratios; custody concerns lingering across custodianships beyond Coinbase or Ledger levels… after all, I’ve run stress tests on models showing even 15% drops could trigger margin calls if not properly hedged—but that’s what risk modeling is for!

My Take: From Speculation to Infrastructure

I’ve been skeptical about crypto entering traditional finance since I started analyzing blockchains in grad school at Harvard. But this feels different—not because I love Bitcoin—but because I respect process-driven change when it comes from institutions with real teeth,

Pulte isn’t some random influencer pushing meme coins—he’s deeply embedded in real estate capital markets; His personal portfolio includes $50–100K worth of BTC and Solana, Plus shares in Marathon Digital Holdings, and past investments in high-volatility stocks like GameStop—so he knows how markets behave under pressure,

If he believes we’re ready for this shift… maybe we are—even if only incrementally,

This isn’t about letting people cash out their gains overnight; It’s about unlocking utility—the ability for ownership of digital wealth to serve practical economic functions like buying homes without destruction of value,

We’re moving from “crypto as speculation” toward “crypto as asset class.” And that transition has begun—not with fanfare but with quiet directive from an unlikely corner of D.C.,

Stay curious—and keep your wallet cold enough that you don’t panic during volatility cycles.