Milo, a U.S. cryptocurrency lending business that specializes in crypto-backed mortgages, has originated over $100 million in home loans, including the company’s largest single transaction to date, a $12 million crypto mortgage.
The firm, which holds mortgage provider licenses in ten U.S. states with more to follow, has a perfect track record of zero margin calls across its mortgage portfolio, despite enduring consistently choppy periods of volatility for bitcoin and other cryptos, Milo said in a press release on Wednesday.
The firm allows crypto holders to pledge their bitcoin or ether as collateral for loan amounts up to $25 million without having to sell their digital assets, eliminating the need for cash down payments and avoiding costly taxable events.
Stepping back, Milo founder Josip Rupena said people who were perhaps advised by a friend to buy some Bitcoin 10 years ago say, and had the courage to hold on to it through recurring cycles of volatility, may find that today maybe 95% of their net worth is in crypto.
Such people will typically be aged between 30 and 55, have a job, and perhaps a retirement account, but they don’t have enough income to buy the home they would like to, Rupena said.
“Our typical transaction is a million and a half dollar home,” Rupena said in an interview. “A customer might make $100k a year and their crypto net worth might be anywhere from three to seven million. If you were to replace Bitcoin with Apple stock, a product like ours would probably not need to exist. But because the consumer owns an asset that is not widely accepted, plus its concerns around the volatility, means that products like ours do need to exist to help them buy a home.”
Milo asks for 100% of the value of the property in crypto collateral, which can be held with qualified custodians like Coinbase or BitGo, or there is a self-custodial option for those who want to keep complete control of their assets. The loans, which start at 8.25%, can also be used for things like acquiring land, funding home improvements, and business investments.
Unlike regular crypto loans which can have margin calls at 25% drops, Milo designed the product to be more conservative and accommodate 65% drawdowns.
Even in turbulent times like the past few months, if a drawdown situation were to cross the necessary threshold, Milo would reduce the value of the loan, Rupena said, so that the customer could continue to have the mortgage.
“We would just essentially derisk the 100% and bring it down to a 65% or 70%, like a regular mortgage, and then they could continue to make payments. We designed it in a way that as long as a person can continue to make payments, they’re going to be able to continue to have this home. They’re not going to lose their home, because Bitcoin goes down,” he said.
So far Milo has done several transactions in the property hotspot of Miami and more in other parts of Florida, as well as Texas, California, Colorado, Connecticut and Arizona. The $12 million transaction mentioned in the press release was in Tennessee, Rupena said.
The product has been given the blessing of bitcoin pioneer and CEO of Blockstream, Adam Back.
“Milo’s product is a game changer in bitcoin lending and unlocks real world use cases for so many bitcoiners,” said Back in a statement. “While bitcoin continues to appreciate, buyers are able to build equity in real estate and don’t have to sell their long term conviction, bitcoin.”
