Bitcoin mortgages push crypto deeper into real-world finance

• Better Mortgage and Coinbase have made their Bitcoin-backed mortgage generally available, with requested loan volume reaching US$360 million.
• Borrowers must pledge US$2.50 of Bitcoin for every US$1 borrowed towards a home deposit, while Bitcoin remains in Coinbase Prime custody.
• The model introduces collateral custody and liquidation risks, while broader adoption depends on mortgage rules, crypto volatility and institutional infrastructure.

Bitcoin has spent a decade being described as digital property. This month it started acting like collateral against the physical kind.

Better Mortgage and Coinbase have moved their Bitcoin-backed mortgage into general availability, with requested loan volume reaching US$360 million - borrowers pledge US$2.50 in Bitcoin for every US$1 drawn towards a deposit. 

It is the closest crypto has come to ordinary household finance, and it arrives through the least programmable asset in the market.

Ethereum, Solana, XRP Ledger and Avalanche are pushing into real-world finance from the opposite direction. 

BlackRock has launched Ethereum-based tokenised share classes for European money-market funds holding US$311 billion. 

Progmat plans to migrate over US$2 billion of tokenised securities onto Avalanche.

The figures below - DeFi TVL, real-world asset value, daily settlement volume - show which of those bets is further along. 

Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC)
Better Mortgage, operated by Better Home & Finance (NASDAQ:BETR), and Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) have expanded their Bitcoin-backed mortgage product to US$360 million in requested loan volume, up from US$260 million on the earlier waitlist, while Better said it may reuse pledged Bitcoin if equivalent Bitcoin remains available for repayment.

Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH)
Ethereum has US$49.5 billion in DeFi TVL, US$15.2 billion in active RWA value and US$827.9 million in 24-hour DEX volume, while BlackRock has launched Ethereum-based tokenised share classes for European money-market funds representing US$311 billion in combined assets.

Solana (CRYPTO:SOL)
Solana has US$5.93 billion in DeFi TVL, US$2.45 billion in active RWA value and US$1.92 billion in 24-hour DEX volume, while its ecosystem reported US$3.7 billion in non-stablecoin RWA value across 313,000 holders in late July.

XRP (CRYPTO:XRP)
XRP Ledger has US$42.2 million in DeFi TVL, US$1.13 billion in stablecoins and 2.59 million daily transactions, while Ripple expanded its institutional tokenisation infrastructure through investments in ZILO and Licuido and a September partnership with SettleMint.

Avalanche (CRYPTO:AVAX)
Avalanche has US$505.6 million in DeFi TVL, US$884.5 million in active RWA value and 2.02 million daily transactions, while Progmat has announced plans to migrate more than US$2 billion of tokenised securities onto Avalanche infrastructure.

The bottom line
The Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) mortgage shows how crypto collateral is moving into conventional finance, while Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH), Solana (CRYPTO:SOL), XRP Ledger and Avalanche are competing through tokenisation, stablecoins and institutional settlement rather than mortgage lending.