The move aims to make home ownership more accessible to a younger demographic, who are more likely to own crypto. “Token-backed mortgages are a major first step to unlocking homeownership for the younger generations that have struggled with barriers to saving for a traditional down payment,” said Max Branzburg, head of consumer and business products at Coinbase, in the statement.
The goal of the product is also to help those who might be crypto-rich but cash-poor. The homebuyer would take out a traditional 15 or 30-year mortgage but instead of making down payment in cash, they would take out a separate loan backed by their Bitcoin or stablecoin holdings. This new offering would allow them to hold on to their crypto and not have to sell it and pay capital gains taxes. The downside is that the second loan would increase the overall cost of homeownership since the buyer would also have to service that second loan.
The homebuyer can’t trade the crypto assets once they have been pledged. In the event the digital assets go down in value, the mortgage loans don’t get affected if the owner keeps making the monthly payments.
Correction: The article was updated on March 26 to say that the statement was released on Thursday, not Tuesday.
