FHFA tells Fannie, Freddie to consider crypto

The Federal Housing Finance Agency on June 25, 2025 ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare to treat some cryptocurrency holdings as assets in single-family mortgage risk assessments. The directive, issued by FHFA Director William J. Pulte, told the two government-controlled mortgage companies to develop internal frameworks rather than begin immediate broad use of crypto in underwriting. The order applied to borrower reserves, a key part of mortgage qualification, and required the companies to account for market volatility and other risk adjustments. FHFA did not publish a news release for the directive on its main news page, but the order was later described in trade and consumer coverage. ### What did FHFA actually tell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to do? June 25, 2025 is the key date. Mortgage Professional America and Forbes both reported that Pulte ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare their businesses to count cryptocurrency as an asset for a mortgage and to build formal processes around that change. The order did not say all crypto would automatically count the same as cash in a bank account. Trade and consumer reports said the enterprises were directed to evaluate crypto as part of mortgage reserves and to build risk controls around how much of a borrower’s reserves could be made up of digital assets. (mpamag.com) ### Which crypto holdings were included? The June 25 order, as described by Mortgage Professional America, limited eligible holdings to cryptocurrency stored on a centralized exchange regulated in the United States. That condition excluded self-custodied wallets and offshore platforms from the version of the policy described in the reporting. (mpamag.com) Forbes reported that FHFA had not, at that stage, published a full list of qualifying digital assets. The article said bitcoin was expected to be included, but that expectation was not presented there as a final FHFA asset list. ### Why do Fannie and Freddie matter so much here? FHFA says Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created by Congress and play a central role in the U.S. housing finance system by buying mortgages from lenders, holding them or packaging them into mortgage-backed securities, and providing liquidity to the market. (mpamag.com) FHFA also says the two enterprises support liquidity, stability and affordability in mortgage finance. (forbes.com) FHFA said in its 2025 Scorecard that the enterprises provide more than $8.5 trillion in funding for U.S. mortgage markets and financial institutions. That scale is why even a limited underwriting change at Fannie and Freddie can draw attention well beyond the crypto market. ### Did the order make crypto equal to cash for mortgage applications? (fhfa.gov) The answer from the reported details is no. Mortgage Professional America said the order required the enterprises to take account of market volatility and apply risk-based adjustments to the share of reserves made up of cryptocurrency. Forbes likewise reported that Fannie and Freddie had to develop internal frameworks to evaluate crypto held on U.S.-regulated exchanges and factor in volatility. (fhfa.gov) That means the directive was about building an underwriting framework, not simply letting borrowers list any token balance at face value. The reporting also said the enterprises still needed to submit final proposals to their boards and to FHFA for approval. ### Who was behind the directive? William J. Pulte was sworn in as FHFA director on March 14, 2025, according to the agency’s leadership page. (mpamag.com) FHFA says the director oversees Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Pulte said in a June 25, 2025 X post, as quoted by Mortgage Professional America, that he made the decision “after significant studying” and in line with President Donald Trump’s goal of making the United States “the crypto capital of the world.” (forbes.com) ### What was supposed to happen next? The next formal step was internal. (fhfa.gov) Forbes reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were required to draft implementation frameworks and submit final proposals to their boards and to FHFA for approval. FHFA’s orders page says orders are legally binding actions directed at regulated entities. (mpamag.com) The June 25, 2025 crypto directive did not appear on the currently indexed FHFA orders page that is publicly visible now, but FHFA maintains that page as the place where such orders are generally cataloged. (fhfa.gov) (forbes.com)