Coinbase and Better close first Fannie Mae-approved U.S. mortgage funded by crypto-backed down payment

Coinbase said a Michigan couple closed on what it described as the first-ever conventional, Fannie Mae-backed home mortgage in which the borrower pledged bitcoin as collateral to fund the down payment and avoid selling their crypto holdings ^[1].

The transaction combined a Fannie Mae conventional mortgage with a crypto-backed down‑payment loan facilitated by Coinbase and Better Home & Finance, allowing borrowers to use bitcoin or USDC without liquidating assets; reports say the crypto-backed loan required roughly a 2.5-to-1 collateral ratio for approval ^{[2] [3]}.

Better Home & Finance and Coinbase partnered to underwrite and close the loan; the deal was reported across industry outlets as the first U.S. mortgage of this structure following Fannie Mae’s move to accept crypto for mortgage down payments ^{[4] [3]}.

The closing puts into practice Fannie Mae’s recent policy shift to accept crypto for down payments and represents the first reported use of a crypto-collateralized down‑payment loan paired with a conventional mortgage ^{[3] [1]}.