Pulte says decision marks 'historic day' for US mortgage industry
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director Bill Pulte said Wednesday he had ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to begin preparations to count cryptocurrency as an asset in mortgage applications.
In an X post, Pulte said he had made the decision “after significant studying, and in keeping with President Trump’s vision to make the United States the crypto capital of the world”.
The order said the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) should begin the practice straight away, describing the move as “effective immediately” and to be implemented “as soon as reasonably practical.”
After significant studying, and in keeping with President Trump’s vision to make the United States the crypto capital of the world, today I ordered the Great Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare their businesses to count cryptocurrency as an asset for a mortgage.
— Pulte (@pulte) June 25, 2025
SO ORDERED pic.twitter.com/Tg9ReJQXC3
Pulte had floated the idea in recent days, revealing that the FHFA had opened a review of digital asset balances in applications for home loans.
The order described cryptocurrency as an asset class that could offer Americans a way of building wealth outside the stock and bond markets, but noted that it has not yet been considered directly in the risk assessment process for mortgage loans purchased by Fannie and Freddie without first being converted to US dollars.
“FHFA has now determined that the consideration of additional borrower assets in the Enterprises’ single-family mortgage loan risk assessments may enable the Enterprises to assess the full spectrum of asset information available for reserves and to facilitate sustainable homeownership to creditworthy borrowers,” the order read.
Fannie and Freddie may only consider crypto assets that can be stored on a centralized exchange regulated in the US, it added, while they must also take into consideration adjustments for market volatility and risk-based adjustments to the share of reserves made up of cryptocurrency.
Opening the door to the use of crypto in mortgages marked a “historic day” for both the cryptocurrency and mortgage industries, Pulte said.
While some fintech companies have introduced crypto-backed mortgage products, allowing borrowers to use cryptocurrencies as collateral for home loans, the mortgage market has to date remained largely unimpacted by crypto trends.
But the space’s popularity has surged in recent years, with over 130 publicly listed companies collectively hoarding about $87 billion in Bitcoin across the US – and around 55 million Americans reportedly holding some form of cryptocurrency.
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