A major breakthrough has just arrived for Bitcoin and the crypto industry from one of the most influential financial regulatory bodies in the United States. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which oversees the country’s largest mortgage liquidity providers, has issued a directive that could change how digital assets are viewed.
Under this directive, mortgage liquidity providers have been officially ordered to begin preparations for considering cryptocurrencies as part of a borrower’s asset portfolio during mortgage evaluations.
In a recent post on the social media platform X, FHFA Director Bill Pulte issued a directive instructing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare proposals that allow homebuyers to count cryptocurrency holdings held on US-regulated exchanges as part of their asset reserves for mortgage applications without converting them into dollars.
Crypto assets have always been excluded from mortgage risk assessments unless converted to U.S. dollars before closing. However, this recent move breaks that barrier. This policy shift aligns with former President Donald Trump’s campaigns to establish the United States as the crypto capital of the world. Pulte, who was recently sworn in as the 5th Director of U.S. Federal Housing FHFA in March 2025, is now part of those taking steps to make this vision a reality.
According to the order, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must also factor in market volatility and enforce strong risk-based adjustments before implementing the new assessment method. Fannie and Freddie are government-sponsored enterprises that do not issue mortgages themselves but play an important role in the housing market by purchasing home loans on the secondary market and setting the criteria for the loans they are willing to acquire.
Bitcoin is going to benefit the most from this policy update. Being the largest and most widely held cryptocurrency, Bitcoin has long been considered the digital gold standard, which makes it a natural candidate for institutional recognition.
Its established presence on U.S.-regulated exchanges and deep liquidity profile through Spot Bitcoin ETFs tick nearly every box laid out in the FHFA’s directive.
However, the decision raises an important question for XRP holders as to whether the same regulation will be extended to XRP. Unlike Bitcoin, XRP has had a complicated history with regulatory agencies in the US, most notably the SEC. Although recent legal clarity around XRP has allowed the crypto to resume trading on major US-based exchanges, it isn’t really certain whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be quick to include it under this new directive.
Nonetheless, the FHFA’s directive doesn’t specify eligible tokens. It simply refers to cryptocurrencies held on US-regulated exchanges. As such, the directive could be quick to include US-based cryptocurrencies like XRP and Ethereum alongside Bitcoin. Other countries are already far ahead with XRP in real estate. In Japan, for instance, Open House Group allows XRP payments for property purchases in cities such as Tokyo and Osaka. Dubai is also using the XRP Ledger to tokenize real estate.
