By Alex Veiga
The head of the federal agency that oversees Fannie May and Freddie Mac hopes the mortgage giant will consider accepting home buyers’ cryptocurrency holdings on the basis of buying mortgages from banks.
William Prute, director of the federal housing finance agency that oversees Fannie and Freddie, ordered the agency on Wednesday to prepare a proposal to consider crypto as a reserve asset when assessing the risk of single-family mortgages.
Pulte also directed the agency that mortgage risk assessments should not require cryptocurrency assets to be converted to US dollars. Also, only crypto assets that can be “certified and stored in a US regulated central exchange subject to all applicable laws” should be considered by the institution in their proposal, Pulte wrote immediately in writing order.
Pulte was sworn in March as head of the FHFA. According to public records, as of January 2025, Pulte’s spouse owns a similar amount of Solana Sol tokens as of $500,000 to $1 million in Bitcoin.
Banks seeking to create a mortgage that is eligible for purchase by Fannie and Freddie are not usually considered as borrowers’ crypto-holdings.
The policy aims to encourage banks to expand how they value borrowers’ creditworthiness in the hopes that more aspiring home buyers will be able to qualify for a mortgage. We also recognize that cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to traditional investments such as bonds and stocks.
According to the order, agents must come up with suggestions “a reasonably practical, immediately.”
Fannie and Freddie, who have been under government control since the Great Recession, will purchase mortgages from banks that meet risk criteria and provide liquidity to the housing market. The two companies guarantee about half of the $12 trillion US mortgage market, which is the bedrock of the US economy.
Original issue: June 25th, 2025, 4:54pm EDT
