According to HousingWire, Better Mortgage and Coinbase have now made their crypto-backed mortgage product widely available to Coinbase One members. What makes this interesting is that borrowers can pledge their cryptocurrency holdings as part of the loan process while still getting a standard conforming mortgage that follows Fannie Mae guidelines. Better originates and services the loans with Coinbase's technology powering the program behind the scenes.
The two companies are sweetening the deal with closing cost credits for eligible borrowers. Coinbase One members approved for a loan through Better can receive a lender-funded credit of up to $10,000, calculated as 1% of the mortgage amount. This credit applies not just to the crypto-backed mortgages, but across Better's entire product lineup including standard mortgages, home equity lines of credit, and refinances.
Before rolling this out broadly, Better and Coinbase tested the waters with a waitlist that launched back in June. The response was pretty encouraging from what the companies reported. The vast majority of waitlist participants were already Coinbase One members, and a significant portion said they were planning to buy within six months. The waitlist alone represented over $260 million in potential loan volume, which gives you a sense of the demand they were seeing.
The companies framed this as a way to help younger borrowers and crypto-savvy investors access homeownership without having to liquidate their digital assets. Better's CTO noted that median first-time homebuyer age has climbed quite a bit, and they see this partnership as opening doors for people whose wealth is increasingly stored in cryptocurrency. Coinbase's head of financial services similarly emphasized that this lets their members use their digital assets more meaningfully in their financial lives.
What I'm seeing locally here in the Bay Area and East Bay is that creative financing products like this are going to keep emerging as our market stays tight and expensive. For buyers sitting on crypto holdings, this removes a barrier that previously existed. However, I'd caution clients to really understand the mechanics of pledging assets as collateral and to work with advisors they trust. This isn't for everyone, but for certain sophisticated buyers with substantial crypto positions, it could absolutely make the difference in putting together a competitive offer in our market.
