US Housing Regulator Considering Usage Of Cryptocurrency Holdings In Mortgage Qualification Process, Director Says

Your cryptocurrency holdings may soon count towards helping you secure your mortgage.

U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte said Tuesday on X that the regulator will study how this can work.

“We will study the usage pf [sic] cryptocurrency holdings as it relates to qualifying for mortgages,” he said.

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Such a move will mark a significant departure from the status quo in which FHFA-regulated institutions require cryptocurrency assets to be exchanged for dollars and held in a regulated bank before they can count towards mortgage income and wealth checks, likely due to their volatility and lack of regulatory clarity.

This has sometimes forced many to choose between liquidating their holdings before they would like to or staying locked out of the mortgage lending system.

“Nine months ago JPMorgan Chase JPM told me their policy was that digital assets need to be liquidated to cash and ‘cured’ in their bank for 3-6 months before it would count towards an individual’s net worth for the purposes of getting approved for a mortgage,” Wyoming Stable Token Commission Executive Director Anthony Apollo said, highlighting the challenges faced by individuals who keep the bulk of their investments in cryptocurrencies.

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So, cryptocurrency proponents have quickly thrown their weight behind Pulte’s plan. 

“We have developed a BTC Credit model that we are happy to share,” Bitcoin evangelist and MicroStrategy MSTR Chair Michael Saylor said. “It takes into account Loan Duration, Collateral Coverage, BTC Price, BTC Volatility, and BTC ARR outlook to generate statistical BTC Risk and BTC Credit spreads.”

Similarly, Zap CEO Jack Mallers said, “This is huge,” while volunteering his expertise on Bitcoin-backed loans to help the FHFA move things along.

The FHFA’s planned study aligns with the sea change in the treatment of the cryptocurrency industry by traditional lenders under the Trump administration. Following President Donald Trump’s January executive order for more open access to banking for cryptocurrency industry participants, several banking regulators have retracted informal guidance that forced legacy institutions to deny services to the industry. In the most recent instance, the Federal Reserve has announced that reputational risk will no longer be considered in its supervision of banks.

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Pulte, who was nominated by Trump for the FHFA post, is also a cryptocurrency investor. According to public filings, he holds between $500,000 and $1 million in Bitcoin and Solana. He also has shares worth between $5 million and $25 million in leading Bitcoin miner MARA MARA.

Pulte captured the cryptocurrency spotlight in 2019 after he offered to give Bitcoin to a lucky follower on Twitter, days after he announced that he had purchased 11 BTC worth only $75,000 at the time. 

At the time, Pulte touted the benefits of decentralization, arguing that Bitcoin had the potential to help the poor and the unbanked.

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