US mortgage lender Charge has launched a nationwide program that enables certified debtors to make use of verified cryptocurrency holdings to assist meet underwriting necessities with out liquidating their property, marking a proper step towards integrating digital property into conventional dwelling financing.
The product, known as RateFi, operates inside the lender’s current non-qualified mortgage framework and permits debtors to depend verified crypto property as qualifying reserves and, in some instances, as an revenue supply.
Kate Amor, EVP and head of enterprise merchandise at Charge, instructed Cointelegraph that for underwriting functions, RateFi assesses digital asset holdings via a proprietary valuation framework that elements in market value, liquidity and asset-specific volatility. The method permits sure crypto property to depend towards borrower qualification with out being liquidated, whereas nonetheless making use of conventional mortgage danger requirements.
Nevertheless, any digital property used for a down cost or closing prices should nonetheless be transformed to money.
The rollout comes as greater than 10% of Individuals report holding digital property, in keeping with the corporate, but most conventional mortgage applications don’t acknowledge cryptocurrency as qualifying collateral until it’s first liquidated.
Liquidating or promoting property typically triggers a taxable occasion or different tax implications, limiting debtors to pledged-asset mortgage buildings.
Amor stated RateFi is designed to work with a curated set of established, high-liquidity large-cap cryptocurrencies and main US dollar-backed stablecoins, although she didn’t determine the particular property supported.
Eligible crypto property should be held with accepted custodians or centralized exchanges, and debtors are required to offer proof of possession and asset seasoning, usually via month-to-month statements.
Amor instructed Cointelegraph that housing affordability pressures are a key issue driving curiosity in crypto-enabled dwelling financing options. She stated:
Youthful generations are coming into their peak homebuying years at a time when conventional paths to possession are more and more out of attain, but they’re additionally essentially the most energetic individuals within the digital asset economic system.
She added that this system “is about recognizing how wealth is definitely constructed immediately and modernizing entry to homeownership accordingly, vs. selling crypto for its personal sake. For a lot of youthful Individuals, crypto is a foundational a part of their monetary planning.”
Charge stated this system applies normal anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) verification and is accessible via its current digital mortgage platform.
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Crypto wealth meets US housing affordability disaster
Housing affordability stays a serious financial problem in the US, significantly for youthful Individuals, and has drawn elevated consideration from the Trump administration and lawmakers in current months.
Absent any laws that may open up crypto-backed mortgage lending to the broader US market, policymakers have begun exploring how digital property may very well be integrated into housing finance frameworks.
In June 2025, Federal Housing Finance Company Director William J. Pulte instructed government-sponsored mortgage consumers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to draft proposals on treating cryptocurrency as a reserve asset in single-family mortgage danger assessments.
In July, Senator Cynthia Lummis launched the twenty first Century Mortgage Act to codify that directive into regulation.
The twenty first Century Mortgage Act. Supply: Senator Cynthia Lummis
A distinct segment marketplace for crypto-backed actual property financing already exists. Lenders comparable to Nexo supply loans backed by greater than 40 digital property, whereas Ledn supplies Bitcoin-backed mortgage merchandise that enable debtors to pledge Bitcoin (BTC) as collateral.
A January survey of 1,000 Individuals printed within the OKX Insights collection discovered a pronounced generational divide in attitudes towards digital property, with youthful respondents much more prone to view crypto as credible and central to the way forward for finance.
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