# Tokenized Real Estate and Bitcoin-Backed Mortgages: A U.S. Guide

> From property shares around $50 to multimillion-dollar crypto mortgages: how U.S. real estate moves onchain, where investors can sell, and what liquidity really means.

By Lidia Yadlos · October 15, 2026

Canonical: https://blockster.com/tokenized-real-estate-and-bitcoin-backed-mortgages-a-us-guide

Tokenized real estate and crypto-backed lending connect three different needs. A Bitcoin holder wants to buy a house without selling their coins. A smaller investor wants rental income without buying an entire building. A homeowner needs a loan, and an onchain investor is willing to supply some of the capital behind it.

These transactions are connecting crypto to U.S. real estate from different directions—and the businesses involved can now point to more than pilot projects.

[Milo reported more than ](https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/milo-crosses-100-million-crypto-mortgage-milestone-closes-record-12-million-transaction-302691103.html)**[$100 million in crypto-mortgage originations](https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/milo-crosses-100-million-crypto-mortgage-milestone-closes-record-12-million-transaction-302691103.html)** in February. [Lofty reports ](https://www.lofty.ai/how-it-works)**[$100 million-plus invested](https://www.lofty.ai/how-it-works)** through its property platform. And [Figure and its partners have originated over ](https://www.plume.org/blog/plume-vaults-expands-access-to-figures-30b-home-equity-ecosystem-through-nprime)**[$30 billion in home-equity loans](https://www.plume.org/blog/plume-vaults-expands-access-to-figures-30b-home-equity-ecosystem-through-nprime)**, according to Plume’s September update.

The figures measure different things: mortgages made, property investment and cumulative lending. Together, they show how digital assets are becoming part of the financing around physical homes.

As [Blockster reported on October 9](https://blockster.com/home-equity-lending-comes-to-etherfi-through-figure-and-plume), ether.fi is adding exposure to Figure’s home-equity lending through Plume and Hastra. Plume said its **nPRIME vault reached $10 million in total value locked in just over a week**. That development is one part of a broader shift in who can own property investments—and how buyers can finance them.

[Post from @BlocksterCom on X](https://twitter.com/BlocksterCom/status/2108606664639500351)

## Three Different Ways Crypto Connects to Property

“Real estate onchain” can describe ownership, lending or collateral. Understanding which one is involved explains where the return comes from and what the investor or borrower actually owns.

| Business | Role in the market | Reported scale or terms |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lofty | Fractional interests in property-owning LLCs | $100M+ invested; 40,000+ investors; $5.2M+ rent paid |
| RedSwan | Tokenized commercial-property securities | $100M Stellar portfolio announced in September 2025 |
| Figure / Hastra / Plume | Capital and tokenized exposure tied to home-equity lending | $30B+ cumulative Figure/partner originations; nPRIME reported $10M TVL in October |
| Milo | Crypto-backed mortgages | $100M+ originated; record $12M transaction, reported February 2026 |
| Better / Coinbase | Mortgage plus a crypto-secured down-payment loan | $260M+ prospective loan volume from the waitlist, reported August 2026 |

Company and partner disclosures, checked October 15, 2026. These figures use different dates and definitions; they are not a market-share ranking and should not be added together. Sources are linked in the relevant sections below.

## Who Is Bringing U.S. Property Investments Onchain?

### Lofty: Small Stakes in Rental Properties

[Lofty](https://www.lofty.ai/how-it-works) makes the ownership side tangible. Investors buy shares in an LLC that holds a particular property, with exposure to rental income and changes in its value. The company lists **100-plus rental properties across roughly 40 U.S. markets**, with shares often priced around **$50 or less**.

Its reported **40,000-plus investors** and **$5.2 million-plus in rent distributions** provide evidence of participation and cash reaching users. Rent is distributed daily. The platform also supports trading, but an available marketplace does not guarantee a buyer at the price an investor wants.

The property still has ordinary expenses. Vacancies, repairs, insurance and management affect what owners receive, regardless of how their shares are recorded.

### RedSwan: Commercial Real Estate in Smaller Pieces

Houston-based [RedSwan](https://redswan.io/) focuses on commercial-property investment. In a [September 2025 announcement with Stellar](https://stellar.org/press/redswan-digital-real-estate-brings-usd100m-of-tokenized-real-estate-to-the-stellar-network), it described a **$100 million portfolio** of multifamily and hospitality assets being tokenized on the network.

The model divides investment interests into digital securities, opening another route for capital to reach commercial buildings. That $100 million describes the announced portfolio—not proof that investors bought $100 million of tokens or can immediately resell them. Eligibility, ownership rights and transfer restrictions depend on the offering.

### Figure: The Loans Behind the Homes

[Figure](https://www.figure.com/) operates on the credit side. Its website reports **382,000-plus households served**. Plume’s September explanation puts cumulative Figure-and-partner home-equity originations above **$30 billion** and Figure’s Consumer Loan Marketplace volume at **$2.9 billion in Q1 2026**.

Figure’s Democratized Prime marketplace helps finance home-equity loans while they await sale to longer-term investors. Hastra packages participation in that lending market into **PRIME**; Plume’s **nPRIME** vault provides access to that exposure.

Investors are participating in lending-related income. They are not buying a fraction of a borrower’s kitchen or an ownership stake in the house. And the $30 billion cumulative origination figure is much larger than—and distinct from—the amount deposited into nPRIME.

[Post from @ether\_fi on X](https://twitter.com/ether_fi/status/2108212682252071175)

## How Do You Sell Tokenized Real Estate?

For the property-ownership products in this guide, selling usually means transferring shares in the entity that owns the building. The building itself can remain rented and managed throughout the transaction. Selling the entire property is a separate decision governed by the ownership documents.

The resale route depends on the specific investment: its platform marketplace, a securities trading venue that supports it, or a permitted transfer to another eligible buyer. Investors need to check transfer restrictions and complete the venue’s onboarding before placing an order. A buyback or redemption is another possible exit only where the investment’s terms provide for it.

### Which Markets Support Resales?

| Venue | What it supports | What to know about selling |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lofty marketplace | Shares in properties listed on Lofty | No minimum holding period. Market orders use available pricing; limit orders wait for a match. Published share-sale fee: 3%. |
| tZERO | Selected tokenized securities, including property exposure such as St. Regis Aspen | A regulated alternative trading system (ATS). The particular security must be supported, and investor eligibility and available buyers determine access and execution. |
| RedSwan Markets bulletin board | Expressions of buying and selling interest in real-estate securities | Eligible holders can post interest. A bulletin-board listing is not a guaranteed trade or a continuously liquid order book. |

Lofty describes a 24/7 marketplace with market and limit orders. Its published fee schedule lists 3% on share sales and separately describes a 2.5% market-maker fee for instant execution; investors should check the complete order quote before confirming. Its terms say a filled sell order pays USDC. The company is not a registered broker-dealer.

Resale venue sources: [Lofty’s trading and fee information](https://www.lofty.ai/how-it-works), [Lofty’s terms](https://www.lofty.ai/terms), [tZERO’s trading platform](https://www.tzero.com/trade) and [RedSwan’s secondary-market bulletin board](https://exchange.redswan.io/).

tZERO provides a securities-trading route rather than a universal market for every property token. RedSwan’s [broker-dealer website](https://redswanmarkets.com/) describes private placements as illiquid, and its [property portal](https://app.redswan.io/) warns that there is not an active secondary market for the types of digital assets featured there. Those disclosures matter alongside marketing about future liquidity.

### How Liquid Is the Market?

**A token can be transferable without being easy to sell at a good price.** Availability around the clock measures when orders can be submitted; liquidity measures how much can actually be sold, how quickly and at what price.

There is no comparable, verified set of recent trading-volume figures across these venues in the public sources reviewed for this guide. Portfolio value, total invested and token issuance do not answer that question. Investors should examine completed trades over the past 30 days, current buy orders, the gap between buying and selling prices, and the proceeds quoted for their entire position after fees.

For illustration, a holding valued at **$10,000** that sells at a **10% discount** produces $9,000 gross. A **3% selling fee** reduces that to **$8,730**, before any other costs or taxes. This is a hypothetical example, not an observed market discount.

Tokenization can make ownership easier to divide and transfer. Deep resale markets still require repeat buyers, reliable property information and enough capital willing to buy when someone else wants to exit.

## Buying a Home Without Selling the Bitcoin

For crypto holders, the attraction runs in the other direction: use digital wealth to finance a physical asset while retaining exposure to Bitcoin.

[Milo’s February disclosure](https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/milo-crosses-100-million-crypto-mortgage-milestone-closes-record-12-million-transaction-302691103.html) included a **$12 million crypto mortgage** within its $100 million-plus cumulative originations. It also said its separate crypto-loan book **quadrupled during 2025**. Those are concrete signs of adoption within one lender, rather than a national measure of mortgage demand.

> “We’ve moved beyond proving the concept. Now we’re proving the execution.”
>
> — Josip Rupena, Milo founder and CEO, February 18, 2026

[Better and Coinbase announced general availability](https://investors.better.com/2026-08-26-Better,-Coinbase-Announce-General-Availability-of-First-Token-backed,-Conforming-Mortgage-to-Expand-Homeownership-Access-for-a-New-Generation-of-Mortgage-Borrowers) of their product on **August 26**. Before that rollout, their waitlist represented more than **$260 million in prospective loan volume**, and **60% of respondents** said they planned to buy within six months. These were indications of interest, not completed mortgages.

The financing combines two debts: a standard conforming mortgage on the property and a separate loan secured by crypto that funds the down payment. Better originates and services the loans; Coinbase provides the platform used to pledge the collateral.

## What Borrowing Against BTC Actually Looks Like

[Coinbase’s current help page](https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/mortgages/crypto-backed-mortgages) says Bitcoin collateral must equal at least **250% of the down-payment loan**.

For an illustrative **$500,000 home** with a **$100,000 down payment**, that would mean pledging at least **$250,000 worth of BTC** for the down-payment loan, alongside a **$400,000 mortgage**. The buyer has borrowed $500,000 in total before fees and closing costs. Pledging Bitcoin supplies collateral; it does not reduce the debt.

Coinbase says this product has no margin calls caused solely by Bitcoin price movements, but Better will liquidate the pledged crypto if payments become **60 days delinquent**, under the loan terms. The borrower must still qualify through underwriting and make the combined payment.

Other crypto loans work differently. Figure advertises a separate **12-month, interest-only crypto-backed loan**, with pricing shown at **50% loan-to-value**. A short-term loan secured by BTC is not interchangeable with a long-term mortgage. Repayment dates, custody arrangements and collateral-liquidation rules matter as much as the advertised rate.

## A Growing Use Case Inside an Uneven Lending Market

The mortgage examples show new uses for crypto collateral, but the broader lending market has not grown in a straight line.

[Galaxy Research estimated $56.16 billion in outstanding crypto-collateralized lending at the end of Q2 2026](https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/crypto-leverage-report-q2-2026-defi-lending-decline-futures-open-interest), down **16.78% from the previous quarter**. It nevertheless reported growing loan books at several lenders, including Coinbase, Ledn, Arch and Milo. Its market-wide figure covers much more than housing finance.

The longer-term property opportunity remains substantial. [Deloitte’s April 2025 forecast](https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/financial-services/financial-services-industry-predictions/2025/tokenized-real-estate.html) projects **$4 trillion in tokenized real estate globally by 2035**, up from less than $300 billion in 2024—approximately **27% annual growth**. That forecast spans funds, loans and other property interests; it is not a measurement of today’s U.S. property-token market.

For readers following [Blockster’s coverage of banks moving deeper onchain](https://blockster.com/bank-earnings-xstocks-44b-volume-blockchain-2027), housing makes the trend concrete. The next stage depends on more loans being funded, rent reaching investors and ownership claims holding up when a property or borrower runs into trouble. Those results will matter more than the number of tokens issued.