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Second largest US mortgage lender will accept crypto payments this year

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Re: Second largest US mortgage lender will accept crypto payments this year

#31
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, money launderers and tax evaders would like to continue laundering and evading -- I think the real question is why are we making this easy for them? Buying property with ill-gotten gains is an extremely common method of money laundering. Having a large hoard of cryptocurrency that you prefer not to liquidate screams "I'm trying to pretend that this isn't a taxable event." We don't let people pay their mortgages…

The ease at which we let foreigners buy our American Real-estate has been bothering me for years. I can't prove it, but it seems like too much foreign capital that is buying our land is ill gotten, and allowing crypto is just going to make it worse. I believe we are the Only country that allows foreigners buy property with a phone call, or email.

It's cyclical, Japanese folks were buying lots of U.S. real estate (and other assets) in the 1980s, then it fizzled out. [0]

[0] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-02-21-mn-2588-s...

Re: Second largest US mortgage lender will accept crypto payments this year

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better question - why not?

> Better question - why not? Because crypto payments are niche and likely come with more hassle (e.g. volatile value, lender needs dollars and has to take on any risk with liquidating bitcoin/other cryptocurrencies). You might as well ask why US mortgage lenders don't accept payments in RMB or Euros.

Why do you care if this company wants to take on the hassle of converting the bitcoin to $ for the customer? It's an additional source of revenue for them.

Re: Second largest US mortgage lender will accept crypto payments this year

#35
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People with substantial amounts of crypto would like to be able to finance larger purchases directly in crypto without needing to liquidate into fiat first

Yes, money launderers and tax evaders would like to continue laundering and evading -- I think the real question is why are we making this easy for them? Buying property with ill-gotten gains is an extremely common method of money laundering. Having a large hoard of cryptocurrency that you prefer not to liquidate screams "I'm trying to pretend that this isn't a taxable event." We don't let people pay their mortgages…

First, this can already be done using MakerDAO CDP loans. Convert crypto to DAI using a CDP loan and then convert DAI to USD to purchase a property. Second, there are many people that own cryptocurrency that are not money launderers and tax evaders who might like the convenience of paying their mortgage with cryptocurrency.

Re: Second largest US mortgage lender will accept crypto payments this year

#36
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, money launderers and tax evaders would like to continue laundering and evading -- I think the real question is why are we making this easy for them? Buying property with ill-gotten gains is an extremely common method of money laundering. Having a large hoard of cryptocurrency that you prefer not to liquidate screams "I'm trying to pretend that this isn't a taxable event." We don't let people pay their mortgages…

The ease at which we let foreigners buy our American Real-estate has been bothering me for years. I can't prove it, but it seems like too much foreign capital that is buying our land is ill gotten, and allowing crypto is just going to make it worse. I believe we are the Only country that allows foreigners buy property with a phone call, or email.

It needs to go in the other direction - it should be easy for anyone to buy property anywhere.

Re: Second largest US mortgage lender will accept crypto payments this year

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better question - why not?

The climate emergency?

Ironically I think the best application of Bitcoin right now is ransomware, bringing the tragedy of its existence close to the US military's.

Re: Second largest US mortgage lender will accept crypto payments this year

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the volatility of Bitcoin it would be real rate risk for the lender. I mean, over decades? There’s no way to price that. During the great bubble, borrowers in Eastern Europe got mortgages in Swiss francs. When the market collapsed and the exchange rate sank, they were completely fucked. Don’t borrow in currency you can’t easily get your hands on.

There is a way to price it, there are perpetual futures market for popular coins. You would pay the premium for those futures but by shorting or buying futures you can lock in value within a few percent. For example, if i expect 1 bitcoin 10 years from now, I sell a future contract promising to sell 1 bitcoin at $45,000. If the price falls 5,000 over 10 years, the value of my contract is now worth $5,000 plus the 40,…

As I understand it, the majority of these future's contracts are on Etherium or another crypto market, and pay out in stable coins at best.

That's already too much risk for 10 years out. The chance of etherium having died in the PoS transition, or the chance of any given market-related contract having an exploit that renders it worthless, are both simply too high to actually participate in for a 30 year loan.

Do you have a reference to a place where I could get one of these futures to get a good feel for how much extra it would cost to secure a loan against that volatility?

Re: Second largest US mortgage lender will accept crypto payments this year

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better question - why not?

> Better question - why not? Because crypto payments are niche and likely come with more hassle (e.g. volatile value, lender needs dollars and has to take on any risk with liquidating bitcoin/other cryptocurrencies). You might as well ask why US mortgage lenders don't accept payments in RMB or Euros.

Also, the potential for attracting Congressional attention.

Re: Second largest US mortgage lender will accept crypto payments this year

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the volatility of Bitcoin it would be real rate risk for the lender. I mean, over decades? There’s no way to price that. During the great bubble, borrowers in Eastern Europe got mortgages in Swiss francs. When the market collapsed and the exchange rate sank, they were completely fucked. Don’t borrow in currency you can’t easily get your hands on.

There is a way to price it, there are perpetual futures market for popular coins. You would pay the premium for those futures but by shorting or buying futures you can lock in value within a few percent. For example, if i expect 1 bitcoin 10 years from now, I sell a future contract promising to sell 1 bitcoin at $45,000. If the price falls 5,000 over 10 years, the value of my contract is now worth $5,000 plus the 40,…

That is definitely the solution to rate variability, but it doesn’t make sense economically. If you are borrowing money why would you also want to buy futures contracts, it would eat into your mortgage spending power when you can just trade in the Bitcoin, get a normal mortgage and probably far better rate, then buy at full buying power.
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