For the first time in the history of the American real estate system, Fannie Mae will accept digital assets as collateral for mortgages.
Fannie Mae is preparing to accept bitcoin and digital asset-backed mortgages for the first time, marking a turning point in the U.S. real estate system. The news, reported by the Wall Street Journal on March 26, concerns a new mortgage product developed alongside Better Home & Finance and Coinbase, which will allow borrowers to pledge their digital assets as collateral to obtain a Fannie Mae-guaranteed loan.
The mechanism allows applicants to use their cryptocurrencies as collateral without having to sell them to fund the down payment. This way, digital asset holders maintain exposure to their investments while simultaneously gaining access to the traditional real estate market. This represents a significant shift from the current approach, which effectively excluded crypto wealth from the pool of accepted guarantees in the mortgage underwriting process.
Fannie Mae plays a central role in the entire U.S. housing system, guaranteeing a large share of the mortgages issued across the country. Any change to its underwriting criteria inevitably sends a strong signal about how traditional financial institutions intend to treat digital assets over the long term.
At this stage, however, several key operational questions remain open. It is not yet clear which cryptocurrencies will be accepted as collateral, what methodology will be used to calculate the value of pledged assets, or what risk parameters will be applied.
The move fits into a broader context of openness toward digital assets promoted by the Donald Trump administration. In recent weeks, American regulators have taken steps to expand the role of digital assets in retirement markets and investment products, while operators such as NYSE and Nasdaq are integrating tokenization technologies to bring Wall Street closer to decentralized finance.
