Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac ordered to consider crypto as an asset when
buying mortgages
[June 26, 2025] By
ALEX VEIGA
The head of the federal government agency that oversees Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac wants the mortgage giants to consider accepting a
homebuyer's cryptocurrency holdings in their criteria for buying
mortgages from banks.
William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which
oversees Fannie and Freddie, ordered the agencies Wednesday to prepare a
proposal for consideration of crypto as an asset for reserves when they
assess risks in single-family home loans.
Pulte also instructed the agencies that their mortgage risk assessments
should not require cryptocurrency assets to be converted to U.S.
dollars. And only crypto assets that “can be evidenced and stored on a
U.S.-regulated centralized exchange subject to all applicable laws” are
to be considered by the agencies in their proposal, Pulte wrote in a
written order, effective immediately.
Pulte was sworn in as the head of FHFA in March. Public records show
that as of January 2025, Pulte's spouse owned between $500,000 and $1
million of bitcoin and a similar amount of Solana’s SOL token.
Use of cryptocurrency for buying a home has been generally limited.
Among the respondents in a National Association of Realtors survey of
people who bought a home between July 2023 and June 2024, only 1% of
those who made a down payment said they used proceeds from the sale of
crypto.
Banks seeking to make mortgages that qualify for purchase by Fannie and
Freddie have not typically considered a borrower’s crypto holdings until
they were sold, or converted, to dollars.
“This is a big win for advocates of cryptocurrencies who want crypto to
be treated the same way as other assets are," said Daryl Fairweather,
chief economist at Redfin.
Currently, stock investments are treated as qualifying assets that count
toward reserves that banks want borrowers to have. But assets that are
more volatile, like individual stocks or crypto, may be discounted by
lenders, Fairweather noted.
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This April 21, 2018, file photo shows the Fannie Mae headquarters
building in Washington. (AP Photo/J. David Ake, File)
 “As long as lenders are
appropriately discounting crypto based on volatility, it’s fine that
crypto investments count toward reserves,” she said.
The policy change is meant to encourage banks to expand how they
gauge borrowers’ creditworthiness, in hopes that more aspiring
homebuyers can qualify for a home loan. It also recognizes that
cryptocurrencies have grown in popularity as an alternative to
traditional investments, such as bonds and stocks.
The agencies have to come up with their proposals “as soon as
reasonably practical,” according to the order.
Fannie and Freddie, which have been under government control since
the Great Recession, buy mortgages that meet their risk criteria
from banks, which helps provide liquidity for the housing market.
The two firms guarantee roughly half of the $12 trillion U.S. home
loan market and are a bedrock of the U.S. economy.
“If Fannie and Freddie are going to accept cryptocurrency as
collateral, that’s a strong incentive for banks to shift their
practices," said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com.
“Because people who might otherwise have to sell cryptocurrency to
qualify — and maybe that’s a deal-breaker for them now — under this
new policy, they can qualify. It sort of expands the potential pool
of eligible buyers.”
The U.S. housing market has been in a slump since early 2022, when
mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Home sales
fell last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years. They've
remained sluggish so far this year, as elevated mortgage rates and
rising prices keep would-be homebuyers on the sidelines.
As of April, the U.S. housing market had nearly 34% more sellers
than buyers shopping for a home, according to an analysis by Redfin.
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