During a conference call to discuss the company’s second-quarter performance, United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia stated that the company intends to accept cryptocurrency payments this year.
In a move that will begin this year, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), the second largest mortgage lender in the United States, plans to accept cryptocurrency payments, starting with Bitcoin (BTC).
UWM CEO Mat Ishbia revealed the company’s cryptocurrency intentions on Monday during a conference call to discuss the company’s second-quarter results, which showed a net profit of $138.7 million for the period.
“We’re excited that hopefully (this year) we can actually execute on that before anyone in the country,” Ishbia stated.
“We are evaluating the feasibility and requirements in order to accept cryptocurrency to satisfy mortgage payments.” – @Mishbia15
— United Wholesale Mortgage (@UWMlending) August 16, 2021On Aug. 16, Ishbia told the Detroit Free Press that the transfer will most likely happen later this quarter or at the start of Q4, adding, “I think we are starting with Bitcoin, but we are looking at Ethereum and others.”
“We’re going to walk before we run, but at the same time, we are definitely a leader in technology and innovation and we are always trying to be the best and the leader in everything we do.”
“That’s the plan. Obliviously there’s no guarantees — we’re still working through some details,” the CEO added.
In 2020, UWM was the second-largest mortgage lender, originating 560,798 loans for almost $183 billion. Quicken Loans led the group, with $1.1 million loans totaling $314 billion originated.
The usage of cryptocurrency in real estate transactions has a seven-year history, with BitPay assisting in the sale of a Lake Tahoe house that sold for $1.6 million in BTC in 2014, but crypto mortgage repayments appear to be a relatively recent phenomena.
Matrix Mortgage Global, a Toronto-based mortgage brokerage firm, announced in April that it would accept BTC, Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and various stablecoins via Bitpay for its services.
On August 4, Cointelegraph reported that the People’s Party of Spain filed a bill proposal that would allow property owners to pay mortgages with cryptocurrencies and authorise the real estate sector to utilise their own coin for mortgage acquisitions.
