The Federal Housing Finance Agency just told the two largest mortgage backstops in America to figure out how crypto fits into home lending. FHFA Director William J. Pulte issued Decision No. 2025-360 on June 25, directing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare proposals that would recognize verified cryptocurrency holdings as legitimate assets in mortgage reserve assessments.
In English: if you hold Bitcoin or other crypto on a regulated US exchange, that wealth could soon count when a lender decides whether you qualify for a mortgage. No forced liquidation required.
What the directive actually says
The order is specific about guardrails. Crypto holdings eligible for consideration must be stored on US-regulated centralized exchanges, with Coinbase named as one example. The proposals Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac submit must include detailed plans for managing the obvious elephant in the room: volatility.
Risk mitigants spelled out in the directive include market volatility adjustments and caps on the percentage of reserves that can come from digital assets. The directive also requires verification processes for confirming crypto ownership and balances, along with specifics on what approvals would be needed before any of this goes live across the government-sponsored enterprises.
