FHFA director Bill Pulte made waves on Wednesday when he announced that the government would direct mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to accept cryptocurrency as an asset for mortgages.
On today’s edition of The Macro Show, Hedgeye Digital Assets analyst Ishmael Asad emphasized Bitcoin’s relative strength compared to the broader crypto landscape when considering its use as a mortgage asset.
“It’s the bread and butter. It’s a little different than the rest of cryptocurrency. It’s a lot more stable. It’s been around the longest—a lot more battle-tested,” Asad said, referring to Bitcoin’s dominant position in the crypto market.
Bitcoin is currently the primary asset used in crypto-collateralized loans, with platforms like Coinbase allowing loan-to-value (LTV) ratios of up to 86%.
“But if the price of your bitcoin collateral changes too much… and your loan is too much of what your collateral is, then you’re going to get liquidated,” Asad explained.
While the FHFA’s directive doesn’t single out Bitcoin — referring broadly to “cryptocurrency” — the lack of clarity raises questions about how more risk-prone tokens could be handled in the mortgage process.
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