Starting this year, home buyers in the US will be able to pay their mortgages in bitcoins.
United Wholesale Mortgage, made its public debut in January as a result of a special acquisition merger (SPAC), and announced plans this week to adopt a cryptocurrency for home loans, considered the first for the national mortgage industry.
“We have assessed the feasibility of this idea and look forward to becoming the first mortgage company in America to accept cryptocurrency to repay mortgage payments,” CEO Matt Ishbia said in a statement on second-quarter earnings on Monday.
“We are evaluating the feasibility and requirements in order to accept cryptocurrency to satisfy mortgage payments.” – @Mishbia15
— United Wholesale Mortgage (@UWMlending) August 16, 2021
“This is what we are working on, and we hope that in the third quarter we will really be able to do it earlier than anyone else in the country, because we are a leader in technology and innovation.”
The Michigan-based mortgage company has confirmed to CNBC that it intends to start accepting bitcoins, although UWM is also in the process of evaluating the market and other cryptocurrencies.
“We are assessing the feasibility and requirements to accept cryptocurrency to pay mortgage payments,” Ishbia said on Twitter through the company’s account.
UWM, the country’s second-largest mortgage lender after Quicken, a Detroit-based credit giant owned by Rocket Companies, operates exclusively through wholesale channels, meaning the company hires a fleet of brokers who then connect customers to home loans.
The advancement of decentralized digital money is taking place with increasing attention to cryptocurrencies on all sides in the United States.
The updated cryptocurrency tax rules are part of a $ 1 trillion infrastructure bill, and financial authorities such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, SEC chairman Gary Hensler and Fed chief Jerome Powell have recently discussed whether to regulate cryptocurrencies.
It is unclear whether UWM will store the cryptocurrency it accepts or convert it to fiat currency at the time of the transaction.