In a landmark directive, the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to begin treating Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as assets in mortgage risk assessments — without requiring conversion to U.S. dollars.
This means homebuyers could soon count crypto holdings toward qualifying for a mortgage. The directive applies to assets held on U.S.-regulated centralized exchanges. It signals a major step toward integrating digital wealth into traditional housing finance.
Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) are government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) in the United States. They play a central role in the U.S. housing finance system.
William J. Pulte, Director of U.S. Federal Housing FHFA, shared a copy of the order in a post on X, and wrote about his decision: “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.”
The decision, outlined in FHFA Decision No. 2025-360 and signed by Director William J. Pulte, mandates both government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to assess cryptocurrency held by borrowers as part of their asset reserves—without the need to convert it to U.S. dollars.
This marks the first formal step in integrating digital assets into the U.S. housing finance framework.
The order instructs both enterprises to develop proposals for incorporating cryptocurrencies stored on U.S.-regulated, centralized exchanges into their risk models. It also emphasizes the importance of risk mitigation strategies, including accounting for market volatility and adequate reserve levels.
This initiative aims to expand the spectrum of eligible assets in loan underwriting and improve homeownership accessibility for creditworthy borrowers with crypto holdings.
