@daily_btc_lore | Daily Bitcoin History Threads

June 25, 2025 | 1 year ago today

FHFA Orders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to Count Bitcoin as a Mortgage AssetFHFA Orders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to Count Bitcoin as a Mortgage Asset

The federal agency that controls the country's two biggest mortgage backers ordered them to start counting Bitcoin toward borrowers' reserves. The catch, written directly into the directive: self-custody doesn't count.

What the FHFA Actually IsWhat the FHFA Actually Is

The Federal Housing Finance Agency was created by Congress in 2008 to handle the mortgage crisis. Within days of opening, it placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into federal conservatorship — where they still sit today. Because Fannie and Freddie buy mortgages from banks and guarantee them rather than lending directly, FHFA's rules define what counts as a borrower's assets across nearly the entire US mortgage market.

The DirectiveThe Directive

On June 25, 2025, FHFA Director William Pulte signed Decision No. 2025-360, ordering both enterprises to prepare proposals for counting cryptocurrency — including Bitcoin — as reserve assets in single-family mortgage loan risk assessments, without requiring conversion to dollars first. Pulte announced it himself on X rather than through a formal press release.

The Custody RestrictionThe Custody Restriction

The directive is explicit on which holdings qualify: assets must be "evidenced and stored on a U.S.-regulated centralized exchange subject to all applicable laws." Self-custody and cold storage are excluded by design. Each enterprise also has to build in volatility haircuts, cap how much of a borrower's reserves can be Bitcoin, and get board approval before any of it reaches real underwriting.

The Senate PushbackThe Senate Pushback

By July 24, a group of Senate Democrats — Merkley, Warren, Van Hollen, Hirono, and Sanders — had sent Pulte a formal letter pressing him on the safety-and-soundness risk of leaning on a volatile asset inside the US mortgage system. They also noted that Pulte's own spouse holds up to $2 million in cryptocurrency assets.

The Self-Custody IronyThe Self-Custody Irony

The whole point of self-custody is that no third party needs to vouch for what you own. This directive inverted that: custodial Bitcoin, held on a regulated exchange where someone else controls the keys, now counts toward a mortgage application. Bitcoin you actually hold yourself does not.

Part of an ongoing series on Bitcoin history. This event falls on June 25, 2025.