Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced a new bill called the 21st Century Mortgage Act, requiring mortgage companies, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to consider cryptocurrency holdings when evaluating single-family home loan applications. The legislation aims to help younger Americans qualify for mortgages by counting digital assets without requiring conversion to U.S. dollars.
“The American dream of homeownership is not a reality for many young people,” Lummis said in a statement on Tuesday. “This legislation embraces an innovative path to wealth-building keeping in mind the growing number of young Americans who possess digital assets.”
The proposed law would also stop lenders from requiring borrowers to convert their crypto into U.S. dollars to be considered in loan evaluations. The bill also says that people should not have to change their crypto into U.S. dollars just to qualify. This means the value of their crypto could be counted as-is.
Federal Housing Agency Directive Spurs Legislative Action
The bill comes after an order was given last month by William Pulte, Director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), who ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to create a plan for including crypto in their risk assessments for home loans.
The two agencies were initially created by Congress to keep the mortgage market stable by buying home loans from lenders. They play a huge role in helping people get access to financing.
These two companies were created by the government to help make sure the housing market is strong and steady. They buy home loans from banks, which helps more people get approved. Lummis’ bill is expected to turn Pulte’s idea into a real law.
Lawmakers Split Over Crypto’s Role in Housing Finance
However, not everyone is on board with the plan. Some lawmakers, like Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and other Democrats, warned that crypto is too unstable to be used in this way.
In a letter to Pulte last week. They explained that “Expanding underwriting criteria to include the consideration of unconverted cryptocurrency assets could pose risks to the stability of the housing market and the financial system.”
In short, they fear that linking crypto with home lending could expose the housing market to the same risk seen in the digital assets market, which is often volatile.
Why This Could Matter to Young People
U.S. Census Bureau data shows only 36.6% of Americans under 35 owned homes in early 2025, the lowest rate since 1982. Simultaneously, 21% of U.S. adults now own cryptocurrency, with the majority of ownership concentrated among Americans under 45, according to 2025 adoption surveys.
The demographic overlap between declining homeownership and rising crypto adoption among young Americans provides the policy foundation for Lummis’s legislative approach. Traditional mortgage underwriting may not adequately capture the wealth profiles of crypto-native younger generations.
The legislation would prevent lenders from requiring cryptocurrency conversion to dollars for mortgage qualification purposes, allowing digital asset values to count directly toward borrower financial profiles. This approach addresses concerns about forcing asset liquidation during potentially unfavorable market conditions.
Housing policy experts note the bill raises questions about volatility management and asset valuation standardization that would require detailed regulatory guidance for implementation across the mortgage industry.
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