Key Takeaways:
Better Mortgage and Coinbase opened general availability of a Bitcoin-backed home loan that lets US buyers pledge BTC for a down payment instead of selling it, after a waitlist representing $260 million in projected volume.
The product is designed to expand homeownership access for a generation of borrowers whose wealth increasingly lives onchain, Ziggy Jonsson, chief technology officer at Better Mortgage, said.
The structure combines a standard conforming mortgage under Fannie Mae guidelines with a separate loan secured by pledged Bitcoin. Borrowers must pledge BTC worth at least 250 percent of the down payment loan — for a $500,000 home, a buyer could pledge $250,000 in Bitcoin to support a $100,000 down payment. Coinbase Prime provides custody of the collateral, and borrowers make one combined monthly payment on 15-year or 30-year fixed terms.
The move gives Bitcoin a collateral role in US real estate lending, a market where the median age of a first-time homebuyer reached 40 in 2025, according to Jonsson. Coinbase One members who qualify receive a lender credit equal to 1 percent of the mortgage, capped at $10,000, applied to closing costs. The expanded offer took effect Aug. 12.
Better holds the pledged Bitcoin in its custodial account on Coinbase Prime for the life of the loans. Unlike some crypto-backed lending products, ordinary Bitcoin price swings do not trigger margin calls or liquidation. Borrowers have 30 days to bring a late account current; at 60 days Better may sell the pledged Bitcoin, and proceedings involving the home begin separately after 180 days, in line with Fannie Mae rules.
The waitlist that preceded the launch drew 76 percent Coinbase One users, and 60 percent of respondents said they planned to buy a home within six months, the companies said. Ethereum and Solana will be accepted as collateral later, though only Bitcoin is eligible now.
Competitive context
Crypto-backed mortgages are not new — Canadian lender Ledn announced one in December 2021, and Miami-based Milo unveiled what it described as the first US crypto mortgage in January 2022. Coinbase's involvement gives the sector a prominent custody and trading infrastructure provider as Bitcoin increasingly intersects with traditional financial services.
"By enabling borrowers to pledge their digital assets in the mortgage underwriting process, we are allowing crypto to be more useful and powerful in the real world," Ben Shen, head of financial services and loyalty products at Coinbase, said.
The product's broader availability could pressure rival lenders to offer similar crypto-collateralized loans, and it gives Coinbase a channel to deepen engagement among its millions of monthly users. The companies have not disclosed how many applications they have received since general availability opened.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
