This could open the door for crypto holders to qualify for federally backed home loans without converting their tokens into U.S. dollars and trigger a tax bill so long as their tokens are held on U.S.-regulated exchanges and meet internal standards, which will be determined in the coming months.

The implications go beyond just the government-backed mortgage market. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don’t merely underwrite more than half of U.S. home loans; they also set the tone for lending standards across the broader financial system. When they change the rules, private lenders follow.

Under the directive, the mortgage giants must develop internal frameworks to evaluate crypto held on U.S.-regulated exchanges, factor in volatility and submit final proposals to their boards and the FHFA for approval. Read more.

Meanwhile, Polymarket’s competitor Kalshi is seeing a valuation spike of its own. Venture firm Paradigm is leading Kalshi’s $185 million Series C round, valuing it at $2 billion, according to The Block. Unlike Polymarket, Kalshi operates with full blessing from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, giving it a legal foothold in the U.S. market.

Much of the momentum can be traced to the Senate’s recent bipartisan passage of the GENIUS Act, which for the first time would establish a federal framework around stablecoins—an area where Coinbase has built significant business through its partnership with Circle and its USDC stablecoin. That was followed by Coinbase’s securing of a MiCA license in Europe, allowing the company to expand its trading, custody, staking, and payments services across all 27 EU member states, along with Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

​​The company is also broadening its business model. Last week, it launched Coinbase Payments, a new initiative focused on monetizing USDC transactions, providing a scalable, recurring revenue stream less dependent on volatile trading activity. At the same time, Coinbase announced a partnership with Nodal Clear that would allow USDC to be used as collateral for U.S. futures trades, potentially making it the first stablecoin accepted on a regulated U.S. derivatives market.