Better Mortgage and Coinbase have made their Bitcoin-backed mortgage product generally available in the US, moving a niche experiment in crypto-collateralized home financing into the mainstream market.
Announced Wednesday, the product pairs a Fannie Mae-backed home loan with a separate down payment loan secured by Bitcoin. Borrowers pledge BTC worth at least 250% of the down payment loan, with the collateral transferred to Better's custodial account on Coinbase Prime. The two loans carry the same interest rate and amortization term and are repaid through a single monthly payment. The pledged Bitcoin is returned once the mortgage is fully repaid or refinanced.
The Terms
The structure is designed to let Bitcoin holders buy homes without triggering a taxable sale of their holdings. Notably, Bitcoin price declines alone do not trigger margin calls or changes to mortgage terms — but Better can liquidate the pledged BTC if a borrower becomes 60 days delinquent on payments.
Borrowers must be US residents with a verified Coinbase account and remain subject to Better's standard credit, income, and underwriting requirements. Coinbase One members are eligible for a 1% rebate from Better, capped at $10,000, applicable to closing costs and fees.
The product has been in the works since March, when the two companies first announced the token-backed mortgage and opened it through an early-access program.
Broader Regulatory Shift
The launch lands amid a broader effort to fold digital assets into US mortgage underwriting. In June 2025, the Federal Housing Finance Agency directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop proposals recognizing cryptocurrency held on US-regulated exchanges as an asset in single-family mortgage risk assessments — without requiring conversion to dollars — and to propose volatility risk-mitigation measures.
Other lenders are moving the same direction: Newrez announced in January that it would recognize certain crypto holdings in mortgage applications, including for refinancing.
The backdrop is a US housing market still priced near historic highs, with the median new-home sale around $400,000 in 2026. For Bitcoin holders sitting on unrealized gains, the Better-Coinbase product offers a path to property ownership that keeps the BTC — and the upside — intact.