The Trump administration is moving to consider cryptocurrency as an asset in home loan risk assessments, a change that would significantly broaden crypto’s role in the American traditional finance system.
The U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) sent a directive to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, on Wednesday asking both enterprises to prepare to adjust their policies to include cryptocurrencies as qualifying assets for a single-family mortgage loan, according to a statement from director of the FHFA William Pulte. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored enterprises that guarantee most residential mortgages in the U.S.
“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,” Pulte wrote in a social media post on Wednesday.
The directive states that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should only consider crypto investments that are custodied and can be verified by a U.S.-regulated centralized exchange like Coinbase. The directive also states that the enterprises should consider ways to mitigate the risks associated with cryptocurrencies, like “adjustments for market volatility and ensuring sufficient risk-based adjustments to the share of reserves comprised of cryptocurrency,” according to the statement from FHFA.
During a typical mortgage loan risk assessment with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, if crypto investors want their holdings to be considered as an asset, they must convert their digital currency, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, into U.S. Dollars before the loan closes. The new directive from FHFA seeks to eliminate the need for loan-seekers to do this, allowing crypto investors to maintain their holdings throughout the loan process.
The directive is “a landmark moment, one that acknowledges that modern wealth doesn’t always sit in traditional bank accounts,” Adam Reeds, CEO of crypto loan company Ledn, told Fortune. “For many Bitcoin holders, selling their crypto to help qualify for a mortgage means incurring massive capital gains taxes and giving up future upside.”
The directive comes as President Donald Trump makes crypto a leading issue of his second term. After taking office, Trump quickly began to deliver on many of his campaign promises including establishing a national Bitcoin reserve and appointing pro-crypto government officials. Under the Trump administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also dropped a number of its investigations into crypto companies operating in the U.S. that were initiated under the Biden administration.
Wednesday’s directive to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac marks another step in Trump’s pursuit to dramatically increase crypto’s role in America’s economic system.
“It signals growing institutional recognition of crypto’s role in personal and corporate balance sheets,” Lamine Brahimi, co-founder of crypto infrastructure company Taurus, tells Fortune.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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