Morning Minute: Fannie Mae Accepts Crypto for Mortgages

By Tyler Warner

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And check out our new daily news show covering all of the top stories in 5 minutes or less, downloadable on Apple Pod or Spotify.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors fall hard overnight on escalating war+oil concerns; BTC -4% at $66.6k
• Fannie Mae to accept crypto collateral for mortgages w/ help from Coinbase
• Mara sold $1.1B in Bitcoin as it pivots to AI, still holds $2.75B worth
• Tether selects KPMG for its first official audit
• Strategy CEO reveals that retail investors prefer STRC over MSTR

🌎 Bitcoin Falls Ahead of Iran War “Final Blow”

BTC fell below $67,000 overnight after Axios reported the Pentagon is actively preparing plans for a “final blow” in Iran, including ground forces and a massive bombing campaign.

Trump posted on Truth Social that he’s extending the military pause to 10 days, citing ongoing diplomatic talks that are “going very well,” which led to a brief rebound in prices before the deeper selloff overnight.

Now the week closes with three convergent events in a 24-hour window: a $15B options expiry on Deribit Friday morning at 8am UTC, PCE inflation data, and the expiration of Trump’s original diplomatic window.

It’s going to be a rocky Friday.

Key Details:

• Bitcoin dipped to $67K Friday morning, with ETH sub-$2k; Oil +3% to $97
• Trump posted on Truth Social extending the strike pause to 10 days, citing an Iranian government request and talks “going very well”
• $15B in BTC options expire Friday at 8am UTC on Deribit, along with PCE data

🏠 Fannie Mae Just Accepted Crypto as Mortgage Collateral

The $12 trillion US residential mortgage market just formally recognized Bitcoin as a legitimate asset.

Coinbase and Better Home & Finance launched the first Fannie Mae-conforming mortgage that lets borrowers pledge BTC or USDC as down payment collateral instead of selling.

The primary mortgage is a standard conforming loan with all of Fannie Mae’s usual protections. Where crypto comes in is via a separate, overcollateralized loan that covers the down payment. And it has no margin calls and no forced selling on price drops.

Here’s an example of how it works: On a $500,000 home requiring a $100,000 down payment, the buyer can pledge $250,000 in BTC to Coinbase Prime custody, receive a $100,000 loan against that collateral, use it as the down payment on a conventional $400,000 Fannie Mae mortgage. Note that the interest rates are 0.5% to 1% higher than standard.

The Bitcoin stays intact (no sale, no taxable event) and is returned once the loan is repaid or refinanced.

Liquidation triggers only on a 60-day payment delinquency, same as any mortgage.

Key Details:

• Coinbase and Better launched the first Fannie Mae-conforming crypto-backed mortgage; borrowers pledge BTC or USDC as collateral for a separate down payment loan without selling their assets
• The structure: two loans: a standard Fannie Mae primary mortgage plus a separate overcollateralized crypto-backed loan to fund the down payment; Fannie buys the primary loan just like any conforming mortgage
• No margin calls: if BTC drops, mortgage terms are unchanged; liquidation only triggers on 60-day payment delinquency, same as conventional mortgages
• Rates run 0.5-1.5% higher than a standard 30-year; cold wallets excluded; collateral must be held on a US-regulated exchange (Coinbase)
• Better CEO Vishal Garg estimates the company missed “$40 billion more of consumer demand over the past few years” without this product; 41% of American families lack the cash for a down payment despite holding other assets

⛏️ MARA Sold $1.1B in Bitcoin

Bitcoin miner turned AI infrastructure player MARA sold 15,133 BTC between March 4 and March 25 for approximately $1.1B.

The company used those proceeds to buy back roughly $1B of its own convertible notes at a 9% discount, capturing approximately $88 million in value in the process.

The concerns here from Bitcoin enthusiasts are twofold:

• Mara has another $2.75B in Bitcoin (38,689 BTC), still the second-largest public corporate Bitcoin holder behind Strategy’s 762,099 BTC.
• Many other miners have also pivoted to AI data centers and infra strategies over the last year - and they may become sellers as well

Key Details:

• MARA sold 15,133 BTC between March 4 and March 25 for ~$1.1B; proceeds used to retire ~$1B in convertible notes
• BTC holdings drop from 53,822 to ~38,689 BTC; MARA remains the second-largest public corporate holder behind Strategy
• MARA stock jumped 10% in premarket Thursday

🔒 Crypto Got Its Green Light, Privacy Developers Did Not

Coin Center says crypto privacy tool developers are in a “very bad state” despite the most pro-crypto administration in US history.

The DOJ continues to actively prosecute Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm and the Samourai Wallet developers as unlicensed money transmitters, despite the Trump administration dropping enforcement actions against exchanges and rolling back Biden-era crypto policy across the board.

The House version of the Clarity Act included explicit developer protections that would have prevented exactly this. The Senate let them die.

If the Clarity Act passes without those developer shields, the message to anyone building privacy infrastructure in the US is clear: proceed at your own risk.

Key Details:

• Coin Center says crypto privacy developers are in a “very bad state” despite the most pro-crypto administration in US history
• DOJ continues prosecuting Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm and Samourai Wallet developers as unlicensed money transmitters — cases that predate Trump but have not been dropped
• Coin Center’s argument: treating software publication as financial crime creates chilling uncertainty for US open-source development and drives builders offshore

₿ Retail Is Choosing STRC Over MSTR

Strategy’s CEO revealed Thursday that retail investors own 80% of STRC versus 40% of MSTR common stock.

At a $5B market cap, that’s $4 billion of retail capital in the 11.5% annual dividend product engineered to trade near its $100 par value. Strategy has raised $1.5B via STRC just this month.

The product is available on Robinhood, Kraken, and Webull, common platforms for retail investors. Benchmark-StoneX analyst Mark Palmer said this makes sense from a risk-adjusted lens because Institutions tend to prefer MSTR’s liquidity and asymmetric upside, while retail investors are accustomed to thinking about yield.

STRC fits that mental model. And notably, the product is starting to show up on other Bitcoin treasury firms’ balance sheets as a reserve asset - so it’s not just a consumer product.

Key Details:

• • Strategy CEO revealed 80% of STRC is owned by retail vs. 40% of MSTR; at $5B market cap, retail holds ~$4B in the dividend product
  • MSTR is down 56% over the past six months to $134; STRC holds near $100 par and pays 11.5% annually (~$0.9583/share monthly)
  • Strategy has raised $1.5B+ via STRC this month alone - its fastest issuance pace since the product’s $2.5B public debut last July

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

• Crypto majors are red again as war, energy concerns escalate; BTC -4% at $66.6k; ETH -4% at $1,990; SOL -5% at $83; HYPE -2% at $38.40
• M (+4%), STABLE (+4%) and CC (+4%) led top movers
• Oil +3% at $97; Gold -1% at $4,410
• David Sacks stepped down as White House AI and crypto czar after hitting the 130-day limit for special government employees; he will stay involved as co-chair of the Science Council alongside Zuckerberg, Huang, and Andreessen
• Tether named KPMG as the auditor for its first-ever full independent audit of USDT’s $184B in reserves; the company also engaged PwC to prep its internal systems for the processOKX said it won’t rush a US IPO, with CMO Haider Rafique telling the Digital Asset Summit “we will go public when we have confidence that we can give back shareholder value”

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

• The Bitcoin ETFs saw $171M in net outflows on Thursday, while the ETH ETFs had $92M in net outflows

Meme Coin Tracker

• Meme majors were mostly red; DOGE -2%, SHIB -3%, PEPE -4%, TRUMP -4%, PENGU -5%, SPX -4%, FARTCOIN -3%
• Either (+72%), Hachi (+50%) and Wojak (+20%) led top movers

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

• X Money hired Benji Taylor as its new crypto-savvy design lead, former CPO at Aave Labs and design head at Coinbase’s Base
• Ripple is rolling out AI-assisted red team security testing across the XRP Ledger

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

• NFT leaders were mostly red; Punks -1% at 29 ETH, Pudgy -1% at 4.1 ETH, BAYC even at 5.25 ETH; Hypurr’s even at 409 HYPE
• Pixel Pups (+35%) led notable movers

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