BREAKING: Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Overhaul Mortgage Models to Include Crypto—US Housing Market Enters Web3 Era
Wall Street's sleeping giants just woke up to blockchain. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—the twin pillars of the US mortgage system—have quietly updated their risk models to account for crypto assets. This isn't just a footnote in some risk manager's spreadsheet; it's a tectonic shift in how America finances homeownership.
### The Backdoor Institutional Adoption Nobody Saw Coming
Forget spot ETFs—this is where the real institutional rubber meets the road. When the mortgage giants start factoring digital assets into lending decisions, crypto graduates from speculative toy to recognized collateral. The move signals regulators might finally be warming to blockchain's role in mainstream finance—or at least acknowledging they can't ignore it anymore.
### A Cynic's Footnote
Of course, this being traditional finance, the update probably arrived 5 years late and will be implemented with all the grace of a bull in a China shop. But hey—progress is progress, even when it's dragged kicking and screaming into the future.
Strict collateral rules and board oversight
Pulte’s signed directive instructs each enterprise to limit recognition to cryptocurrency that sits in wallets controlled by US-regulated centralized exchanges.
The order also requires the enterprises to add risk mitigants that account for market volatility and to keep reserve ratios that reflect the share of collateral held in digital assets.
Additionally, each enterprise must secure board approval before it submits the completed proposal to the FHFA conservator for review. The order is effective immediately.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase and securitize the majority of conforming US residential mortgages. Their risk models determine the amount of capital they must hold against potential credit losses.
By allowing crypto reserves to enter those models, Pulte aims to widen the asset information available for underwriting and “facilitate sustainable homeownership to credit-worthy borrowers,” according to the text of the directive.
Risk-adjusted frameworks
The directive instructs each enterprise to develop an assessment that integrates crypto reserves into its existing loan risk framework. That assessment must describe how the enterprise will value cryptocurrency, apply haircuts, and adjust for daily price swings.
The directive also requires an analysis of how crypto reserves interact with other borrower assets and liabilities. After board approval, each enterprise must send the proposal to FHFA for sign-off before implementation.
By invoking the authority to issue binding instructions that alter underwriting or capital standards, Pulte accelerated a process that otherwise WOULD have needed rulemaking or legislative action.
The order does not change conforming loan limits or documentation requirements but expands the categories of qualifying reserves.
Broader national crypto policy
Pulteon his social media account the same day, writing that he acted “in keeping with President Donald Trump’s vision to make the US the crypto capital of the world.”
He added:
The directive follows months of internal study, according to Pulte’s remarks. The order does not specify which coins qualify. Still, the reference to US-regulated exchanges limits the pool to tokens listed on venues that follow federal know-your-customer and anti-money laundering rules.
Both enterprises must begin work on the proposals “as soon as reasonably practical,” the directive states. Pulte committed the agency to review each plan once the boards submit them but did not set a public deadline for submission.
The order remains in force unless FHFA rescinds or modifies it.
