Here’s what happened in crypto today
Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.
Today in crypto, Coinbase and Better Home & Finance launched a structure that lets borrowers pledge crypto to fund the cash down payment on a conforming mortgage, MARA Holdings said it sold 15,133 Bitcoin for roughly $1.1 billion in March to buy back $1 billion of debt at a discount, reducing its convertible debt by roughly 30%, and Coinbase reportedly opposes a new compromise version of a key Senate crypto bill.
Coinbase launches token-backed down payments for Fannie Mae loans
Crypto exchange Coinbase Global has launched a mortgage structure with Better Home & Finance that lets qualified borrowers pledge digital assets held in Coinbase accounts to fund down payments on standard conforming mortgages designed in accordance with Fannie Mae guidelines.
According to Coinbase, the structure enables borrowers to pledge digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) or USDC (USDC) as collateral for a separate loan used to fund the down payment, while the primary mortgage remains a standard, Fannie Mae–backed loan. Better will originate and service the mortgages.
When rolled out, the new development could mark a shift in how crypto assets are used in US housing finance, extending their role from qualifying assets in underwriting to a more direct component of mortgage financing.
MARA sells $1.1 billion in Bitcoin to buy back debt at 9% discount
MARA Holdings sold more than $1 billion of Bitcoin in March to repurchase convertible debt at a discount, using its BTC holdings to reduce leverage, the company said Thursday.
In a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the largest listed US Bitcoin miner said it would buy back about $1 billion of zero-coupon convertible notes due 2030 and 2031 for roughly $913 million in cash, capturing about $88 million in savings, or close to a 9% discount to par.
The company said it sold 15,133 Bitcoin (BTC) for around $1.1 billion between March 4 and March 25 to fund the transactions, which it said will cut its outstanding convertible debt by about 30% to roughly $2.3 billion once the deals close at the end of the month. According to Bitcointreasuries.net, MARA now holds 38,689 BTC on its public balance sheet.
MARA’s chairman and chief executive officer, Fred Thiel, commented in a release that the transaction enhanced the company’s “financial flexibility” and increased its “strategic optionality” as MARA expands “beyond pure-play Bitcoin mining into digital energy and AI/HPC infrastructure.”
MARA’s premarket share price reacted positively to the news, rising from yesterday’s close of $8.25 to $9.29, a gain of around 12.6%, and traded at $8.74 (+5.56%) at the time of writing, according to data from Yahoo Finance.
Coinbase not supporting new crypto bill compromise: Report
Coinbase representatives told Senate lawmakers in a meeting on Monday that they had concerns over the language around stablecoin yields in a new compromise version of the Senate’s crypto market structure bill, Punchbowl News reported on Wednesday.
A proposal that circulated earlier this week would have reportedly prevented third parties, such as exchanges, from paying stablecoin yields, a measure to address banks’ concerns over the risk of deposit flight.
Coinbase is one of the largest crypto lobbyists in the US, and its previous withdrawal of support for the bill in January saw the Senate Banking Committee indefinitely postpone a markup to advance the legislation. Talks are reportedly ongoing over the latest version of the bill.
The bill will outline how regulators should approach crypto, but a provision around banning exchanges from being able to pay stablecoin yields has seen it delayed as the crypto and banking lobbies are at odds over the provision, leading to multiple White House-sponsored negotiations that have yet to create a compromise.
