US United Wholesale Mortgage stopped accepting cryptos
UWM launched a pilot experiment accepting the first-ever cryptocurrency mortgage payment
The first wholesale and purchase lender in America, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), announced to suspend all payments in cryptocurrencies, “due to the current combination of incremental costs and regulatory uncertainty in the crypto space”.
UWM recently launched a pilot experiment accepting the first-ever cryptocurrency mortgage payment in September and five more cryptocurrency mortgage payments in October from borrowers, but said: “it is not wishing to extend beyond the pilot at this time”.
The transactions were the first of their kind for UWM but also for the entire mortgage industry. UWM said it used these payments as a model to better assess scaling cryptocurrency payments for consumers.
“We’re proud to be the first mortgage lender to successfully pilot this technology and further demonstrate that we’re innovating for the long term,” said Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of UWM.
“As we said last quarter, we were going to look into accepting cryptocurrency and test it to see if it’s a faster, easier and cheaper solution and thanks to our innovative technology team members, the transactions were successful. Due to the current combination of incremental costs and regulatory uncertainty in the Crypto space we’ve concluded we aren’t going to extend beyond a pilot at this time,” he added.
Open to cryptos in future
However, UWM said it will continue to monitor possible opportunities coming from cryptocurrencies and the use of blockchain technology for future use.
“The test-and-learn process has helped the company be the first to make this type of transaction happen and prepare UWM to make it available once cryptocurrency transactions become something that will propel the organisation forward,” said Ishiba.
"UWM has been a leader in technology for years because we never stop pushing the envelope and challenging the status quo on what makes the loan process faster, easier and cheaper for independent mortgage brokers and borrowers,” he added
The company also recently introduced BOLT, a self-service platform providing the ability to get initial approval for qualified borrowers within 15 minutes, and Virtual E-Close, the industry’s first end-to-end online mortgage experience without physically signing any documents.
UWM did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
