Crypto owners can now use their digital assets as collateral for their down payments to buy a home. That’s because Fannie Mae is accepting crypto-backed mortgages for the first time through a partnership between mortgage company Better Home & Finance and crypto exchange Coinbase, according to a Thursday statement.
The move aims to make home ownership more accessible to a younger demographic, who are more likely to own crypto. “Token-backed mortgages are a major first step to unlocking homeownership for the younger generations that have struggled with barriers to saving for a traditional down payment,” said Max Branzburg, head of consumer and business products at Coinbase, in the statement.
The goal of the product is also to help those who might be crypto-rich but cash-poor. The homebuyer would take out a traditional 15 or 30-year mortgage but instead of making down payment in cash, they would take out a separate loan backed by their Bitcoin or stablecoin holdings.
This new offering would allow them to hold on to their crypto and not have to sell it and pay capital gains taxes. The downside is that the second loan would increase the overall cost of homeownership since the buyer would also have to service that second loan.
