Homebuyers, Owners, & Renters
      
      Homebuyers, Owners, and Renters

          
                        Business Partners
                  Single-Family Business

Helping lenders serve homebuyers and homeowners with affordable mortgages
    
          Multifamily Business

Financing for quality, affordable rental housing in every market, every day
    
          Capital Markets

Reducing risk and enhancing housing finance liquidity
          About Us
                toggle
                Who We Are
                                              toggle
                        Awards and Recognition
                                                      Diversity and Inclusion
                                                              toggle
                                Employee Resource Groups
                                                                      Progress With Purpose
                                                      Employee Code of Conduct
                                                      Community Engagement
                                                      History
                                      What We Do
                                              toggle
                        Duty to Serve
                                                              toggle
                                Manufactured Housing
                                                                      Affordable Housing Preservation
                                                                      Rural Housing
                                                                      Research Initiatives
                                                                      Colonias Investment Areas
                                                      Homeownership
                                                              toggle
                                Access to Mortgage Credit
                                                                      Restrictive Covenants
                                                      Innovation
                                                      Mortgage Finance in America
                                                      Financial Performance
                                                      Disaster Resiliency and Relief
                                                      Pilot Transparency
                                      Leadership Team
                                      Corporate Governance
                                              toggle
                        Corporate Governance Guidelines
                                                      Fannie Mae Charter
                                                      Board of Directors
                                                      Committees
                                                      Committee Charters
                                                      Code of Conduct
                                                      Bylaws
                                                      Contacting the Board of Directors
                                                      Housing Reports
                                      Investor Relations
                                              toggle
                        Quarterly and Annual Results
                                                      Annual Reports
                                                      SEC Filings
                                                              toggle
                                All SEC Filings
                                                                      Annual Filings
                                                                      Quarterly Filings
                                                                      Current Reports
                                                                      Section 16 Filings
                                                                      Proxy Filings
                                                      Additional Disclosures
                                                              toggle
                                Monthly Summary
                                                                      Capital Disclosures
                                                      Stock Information
                                                      Current Stock Information
                                                      Contact Information
                                      ESG
                                              toggle
                        Learn about our business
                                                      Environmental
                                                      Social
                                                              toggle
                                Equitable Housing Finance Plan
                                                      Governance
                                                      Sustainable Bonds
                                                              toggle
                                Green Bonds
                                                                      Social Bonds
                                                      Reports & Disclosures
                                                              toggle
                                2021 ESG Report
                                      Research & Insights
                                              toggle
                        Forecast
                                                              toggle
                                Monthly Archive
                                                                      Weekly Archive
                                                      Surveys & Indices
                                                              toggle
                                National Housing Survey
                                                                      Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey
                                                                      Fannie Mae Home Price Index
                                                                      Refinance Application-Level Index
                                                                      Special Topics
                                                      Publications
                                                              toggle
                                Fannie Mae Working Papers
                                                                      Housing Insights
                                                                      Partner Research
                                                                      Publications Archive
                                                      Perspectives
                                                              toggle
                                Archive - 2020
                                                                      Archive - 2021
                                                                      Archive - 2022
                                                                      Archive - 2023
                                      Newsroom
                                              toggle
                        News
                                                      Media Resources
          
                        Careers
                toggle
                Our Teams
                                              toggle
                        Corporate Teams
                                                      Data & Analytics
                                                      Digital & Technology
                                                      Mortgage & Customer Solutions
                                                      Risk Management
                                      Life at Fannie Mae
                                      Diversity & Inclusion
                                      Benefits & Professional Development
                                      Campus
          
                        Contact Us
                      
            Google Translate Disclaimer
            The Google Translate feature is a third-party service that is available for informational purposes only. Fannie Mae is unable to guarantee the accuracy of any translation resulting from the tool and is not responsible for any event or damage that occurs as a result of using the translations generated by the Google Translate feature.
            OK
  Translate
        Translation Disclaimer
          Chinese, Traditional
            English
            Filipino
            Korean
            Spanish
            Vietnamese
 FM Site Nav
  

        

Homepage
                    
      Fannie Mae logo
    Toggle navigation
      Rent
                
                All Renter Resources
                                      The Rental Process
                                      Make Your Rent Count
                                      Credit Basics
                      
            Buy
                
                All Homebuyer Resources
                                      7 Steps to Homeownership
                                      HomeView Homeownership Education Course
                      
            Own
                
                All Homeowner Resources
                                      Make the Most of Your Home
                                      Refinancing Your Mortgage
                                      When It’s Time to Sell
                      
            Get Relief
                  Manage Financial Uncertainty

All Resources to Manage Financial Uncertainty

Help for Homeowners

Help for Renters

Protect Yourself from Fraud
    
          Recover from a Disaster

All Resources for Recovering from a Disaster

Recovery Assistance for Homeowners

Recovery Assistance for Renters

Protect Yourself from Fraud
                      
            Calculators & Tools
                
                All Calculators & Tools
                                      Tools for Renters
                                      Tools for Homebuyers
                                      Tools for Homeowners
                                      HomeView® Homeownership Education Course
                                      Glossary
                                      Mobile AppToggle search
 Skip to main content
          
    
    Home
                        Research and Insights
                        Perspectives
                        Mortgage lenders discuss the intersection of blockchain and housing finance
    Perspectives Blog
Mortgage lenders discuss the intersection of blockchain and housing finance
March 21, 2022
Ryan Jackson
    Ryan Jackson
    Director, Fannie Mae Enterprise Innovation Team
Increasingly, the business world is considering adopting blockchain and many of its underlying, novel technologies. Some market observers touted it as a "Great Disruptor"1 – akin to the emergence of the internet – but that's been said about a number of emerging technologies before, including blockchain in 2017. What, if anything, has changed about this particular technology, and what makes today's blockchain discussion different, particularly among stakeholders in the housing finance industry?

To help answer these questions, it's worth looking more closely at blockchain's current usage in the financial services space and its perception among housing industry stakeholders. To better understand the latter, Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group asked senior mortgage executives for their opinions on blockchain technology, including whether they plan to adopt it and its potential impact on the housing industry.

**How is blockchain being used today?**

Led by consumers' use of cryptocurrencies, blockchain has become fairly mainstream. Networks like Visa and Mastercard have introduced crypto-related capabilities to their product offerings. And consumer-facing brands like Starbucks, Best Buy, GolfNow, and Choice Hotels have entered partnerships to provide consumers with the ability to pay with cryptocurrency.

Additionally, the number of institutional investors participating in cryptocurrency markets has increased, and investment in blockchain-related firms continues to grow dramatically. These markets now include everything from cryptocurrency products for retail investors, to corporations purchasing cryptocurrency to hold on their balance sheets, to entirely new blockchain markets being created to cater to institutional investors. According to a recent CB Insights report, U.S. funding of blockchain startups grew 729% from 2020 to 2021. And blockchain and crypto have been one of the leading verticals for fintech investment by U.S. banks since 2010. Even the government is exploring ways of leveraging blockchain2.

Smaller factors are also playing a greater role. Blockchain-focused companies are going public to help bring financial reporting transparency to businesses. Large technology providers, including Amazon3 and Microsoft4, are adding blockchain solutions to their product suites to help customers more easily experiment with the technology.

**What are mortgage lenders saying?**

Using our Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey® (MLSS), we surveyed mortgage lenders on a variety of topics related to blockchain, including its adoption, application, and potential future usage. These are some of the highlights of the report:

Even with all the recent headlines about blockchain, only 25% of lenders said they were familiar with the technology and its possible applications in the mortgage business.
	A majority of lenders (68%) said they have not yet looked into the technology.
		Of the 20% of lenders that have looked into blockchain, 41% said they plan to adopt it within four years.Lenders cited blockchain's potential use for borrower and collateral data as having more applicability than its use as a potential financial instrument.
	Respondents were most intrigued by the idea of a digital wallet containing borrower information enabling "direct-to-source" validation, followed by a title registry for search and validation to complete title/property transfers.Although familiarity with blockchain is low, approximately 40% of lenders believe decentralized finance (DeFi) has high to very high potential to disrupt incumbent financial institutions.While cryptocurrencies often garner the majority of blockchain headlines, only 31% of lenders believe that mortgage companies are likely to accept cryptocurrency from consumers as mortgage payments over the next three years.It's not particularly surprising that lenders would favor applicable use cases involving property and financial information. Not only have they been broadly discussed over the years (both with and without blockchain), but several startups have already attempted to build relevant products, though these have not yet achieved broad market adoption.

Perhaps more surprising is that only about one-third of mortgage lenders are likely to accept cryptocurrency from consumers as mortgage payments over the next three years. With the popularity of cryptocurrency skyrocketing recently among consumers, some might think that more lenders would be willing to accept it. However, the volatility of cryptocurrency pricing and the level of investment necessary to accept cryptocurrency may be limiting lender adoption.

**What do these results mean for housing and Fannie Mae?**

First, it seems prudent that mortgage lenders educate themselves about blockchain technology and its potential application within the mortgage industry. They might do this, in part, by monitoring blockchain activity across the larger financial services industry to better understand its use cases and its applicability to their particular business processes.

Lenders interested in adopting blockchain might also consider finding partners with aligned interests to help them successfully execute their blockchain use cases. Our survey showed that, of the 20% of lenders who have investigated blockchain, 41% plan to adopt it within four years. Generally speaking, for blockchain use cases to be successful, multiple parties need to be involved, and as such these early adopters might look for partners to help them scale their solutions.

As we do with all emerging technologies, Fannie Mae continues to monitor blockchain and assess its potential to increase transparency and reduce risk for our business, our industry partners, and, most importantly, for consumers.

To learn more, read the research deck or access our infographic.

March 21, 2022
Ryan Jackson, Director, Fannie Mae Enterprise Innovation Team

*The author thanks Li-Ning Huang, Stephen Gilbert, Jolene Lester, and Matt Classick for their partnership in this research and commentary. All errors remain the responsibility of the author.*

1 Slalom: *How Blockchain Will Disrupt Your Industry*

2 Federal Reserve: *Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation*

3  Amazon Managed Blockchain

4  Microsoft Azure Blockchain

*Opinions, analyses, estimates, forecasts and other views of Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) group or survey respondents reflected in this commentary should not be construed as indicating Fannie Mae's business prospects or expected results, are based on a number of assumptions, and are subject to change without notice. How this information affects Fannie Mae will depend on many factors. Changes in the assumptions or the information underlying these views could produce materially different results. The analyses, opinions, estimates, forecasts, and other views published by the ESR group represent the views of that group or survey respondents as of the date indicated and do not necessarily represent the views of Fannie Mae or its management.*

TOPICS
  
Fannie Mae Corporate
  
  
      Twitter
              Facebook
              Linkedin
              Email
Research and Insights
                                                              Forecast
                                    Surveys & Indices
                                    Publications
                                    Perspectives
                                                              Archive - 2024
                                    Archive - 2023
                                    Archive - 2022
                                    Archive - 2021

Infographic

Research Deck

Our Company
    About Us
      Contact Us
      Careers
      Investor Relations
      Newsroom
      Research & Insights
      ESG
  Business Partners
    Single-Family Business
      Multifamily Business
      Capital Markets
	      Suppliers
      Developer Portal
  Homebuyers, Owners, & Renters
    Educational Resources
      Credit Basics
      HomeView Homeownership Education Course
      HomePath - Search for Homes
      Make Your Rent CountCalculators & Tools
      All Calculators and Tools      Glossary of Key Terms
      Mortgage Calculator
      Down Payment Assistance Search Tool
      Mobile AppLet Us Help You
      Contact a Housing Counselor
      Manage Financial Uncertainty
      Recover from a Disaster
    
    
  

      
Social media
  

        
            Follow us
          Follow us
          Facebook
          Twitter
          LinkedIn
          Instagram
    Footer
  

        
            Legal
          Privacy
          Digital Accessibility
                Cookie Preferences
            © 2024 Fannie Mae