Homebuyers can now put Bitcoin toward a down payment and never sell a single coin.
Better Mortgage and Coinbase built that idea into a mortgage product, and opened it to the public on August 26.
Few agents have ever fielded a question about financing a home purchase with crypto collateral. That’s about to change.
Here’s how the loan actually works, what the Bitcoin credit adds up to, who qualifies, and what the early numbers say about who wants in.
How The Token-Backed Mortgage Works
Better originates and services the loan, while Coinbase handles the crypto side. The result is the first conforming mortgage backed by a token.
At closing, the buyer takes out two loans:
- A standard conforming first mortgage that meets Fannie Mae guidelines
- A second loan secured by the buyer’s pledged Bitcoin, which funds the down payment
The Bitcoin sits in custody with Coinbase Prime, Coinbase’s institutional custody arm, for as long as that second loan is open. Pay it off, and the coin comes back.
The product covers:
- Purchase mortgages
- Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs)
- Refinances
Here’s how Ziggy Jonsson, Better Mortgage’s CTO, described the move:
“This partnership has always been about expanding access to homeownership by meeting borrowers where they are. In 2025, high interest rates, record home prices, and limited inventory pushed the median age of a first-time homebuyer to 40. Coinbase counts millions of monthly users worldwide, and by allowing Coinbase One members to pledge crypto as collateral without selling their holdings, we’re opening a new path toward homeownership for a generation of borrowers whose wealth increasingly lives onchain.”
The Down Payment Math: What Bitcoin Actually Buys
Pledge Bitcoin, and the lender credits 40% of its value toward the down payment, based on a 250% collateralization ratio: for every dollar of credit a buyer gets, the lender wants $2.50 of Bitcoin backing it.
So, if a buyer pledges $100,000 in Bitcoin, the down payment credit comes to $40,000.
That 250% ratio is what protects the loan from Bitcoin’s price swings. Since the collateral sits at two and a half times the loan amount, Bitcoin would need to drop more than 60% before that cushion ran out.
(Using the same pledge example, a 60% drop for $100,000 would bring it down to $40,000.)
A move that large is rare, which is why Better doesn’t run margin calls or ask for a top-up the way a standard margin loan would.
Skipping the sale carries its own benefit too. The buyer avoids the capital gains tax bill that a sale would trigger, and keeps the Bitcoin’s upside if the price climbs instead of dropping.
And cash stays free for whatever else the purchase needs.
Who Qualifies And What They Get
Eligible properties include:
- Single-family homes
- Condos
- Townhouses
Beyond the property itself, the buyer side has its own requirement: a Coinbase account holding Bitcoin they can actually transfer over for the pledge. Once that account is set up, buyers can choose a 15-year or 30-year fixed term.
On top of that, Coinbase One members get an added incentive: a lender credit toward closing costs, set at 1% of the loan amount and capped at $10,000.
Coinbase ties the account requirement directly to trust. Ben Shen, the company’s Head of Financial Services, put it this way:
“Our members already trust Coinbase for their financial lives. This extends that trust to one of the biggest financial decisions they’ll ever make.”
Why The Waitlist Numbers Matter
Before general availability, the waitlist alone represented more than $260 million in projected loan volume. A few numbers from that same waitlist explain where the volume came from:
- 76% of respondents were Coinbase One members
- 60% planned to buy within six months
- The median first-time homebuyer age sits at 40, an age group with more years to build crypto holdings than younger buyers
Those numbers describe a fairly specific kind of early buyer: a Coinbase user ready to purchase soon. Many are also old enough to have built a real Bitcoin holding before applying.
Turn This Into Content: Green Screen Hooks For Agents
This story is built for a green screen video. Screenshot this article or the Better.com page and put it as your background. Open with one line that makes the viewer stop scrolling.
A few hook lines to pull from, ready to say into the camera:
- “Bitcoin can fund a down payment without a sale. Here’s how the loan splits.”
- “Attention homebuyers: pledge $100,000 in Bitcoin, get a $40,000 down payment credit. No selling required.”
- “Would you sell your Bitcoin to buy a house? This lender says you don’t have to.”
Keep the video short. Lead with the hook, then cut to a screenshot of the numbers behind you.
Close with a question for your audience:
“Would you use a Bitcoin holding this way, or sell it and buy in cash?”
