Milo, a Miami-based digital lender, will soon offer a crypto mortgage to clients with digital assets. And the company claims that there is already a waitlist for the product.
According to Milo’s press release, clients who use the company’s services can pledge their Bitcoin to purchase a property.
The company notes that this way, homebuyers can continue to own their Bitcoin and diversify into real estate, while potentially pocketing the price appreciation of both.
If a client qualifies, they will receive a low interest rate 30-year crypto mortgage, the company said. And unlike conventional mortgages, there are no down payment requirements.
“Clients will be able to finance 100% of their purchase…and do this faster than a conventional mortgage,” the company said. “By combining the security of real estate with the liquidity of digital assets, Milo is able to bridge both the crypto and real world.”
Josip Rupena, CEO of Milo, said in a statement that a crypto mortgage is one of the ways that consumers can invest the estimated $2 trillion in crypto wealth.
“The existing ways for crypto consumers to access home credit has left them with unintended tax liabilities of selling for a down payment or worse the opportunity cost of seeing their crypto increase in value,” Rupena said. “There are countless stories of people buying property with bitcoin proceeds only to see it increase in value and be worth millions more.”
Per the company’s website, it takes five minutes to receive a pre-qualification for a mortgage, though final approval is conditional on finishing the application and providing supporting documents. The crypto mortgage product will be available to most applicants in early 2022, Milo added.
Alongside of the crypto mortgage product, the company also offers a non-U.S. mortgage product for purchases and refinances to foreign nationals. Milo said that it has originated millions of dollars in loans and has had applicants from over 63 countries.
“As a direct lender that is already licensed, audited, and insured, Milo is able to stand behind its commitment to lend its clients,” Milo said.
Other lenders have also made a bet that cryptocurrency will be integrated into the lending space, despite ongoing fears of volatility with digital currencies.
In September 2021, United Wholesale Mortgage announced that it accepted its first-ever cryptocurrency mortgage payment. Five more cryptocurrency mortgage payments were evaluated and accepted in October 2021.
However, due to “incremental costs and regulatory uncertainty in the crypto space” the Pontiac-based lender decided to keep this initiative in the pilot phase for now.
And in August 2021, Figure Technologies and Homebridge Financial Services announced that they would be merging, in part to integrate Figure’s blockchain technologies into the origination space.
Long term, the blockchain technology would allow Homebridge and Figure to handle mortgage transactions through cryptocurrencies instantly.