Australians can now use their Bitcoin to buy a house. Not by selling it, mind you, but by pledging it as collateral while keeping exposure to the asset’s upside.

Block Earner, an Australian fintech founded in 2021, has rolled out what it calls the country’s first Bitcoin-backed home loan. The product lets borrowers use BTC as collateral for property deposits worth up to 50% of the property’s value. Fireblocks, the institutional crypto infrastructure firm, provides the multi-party computation (MPC) wallet technology underpinning custody of those pledged assets.

How the product actually works

A borrower locks up Bitcoin as collateral. Block Earner holds that collateral in Fireblocks’ MPC wallets, which split private keys across multiple parties so no single point of failure can compromise the funds. The borrower gets a loan they can use toward a property deposit.

Block Earner explicitly commits to not rehypothecating the collateral, meaning they won’t lend your Bitcoin out to someone else while they’re holding it. The result so far: zero security incidents across Block Earner’s lending products, and loan sizes have been increasing.

Block Earner started testing the waters with crypto-backed personal loans back in December 2023. Those initial products offered interest rates of 4.95% per annum for loans backed by Ethereum and 6.95% for BTC-backed loans. The home loan product, which launched on July 16, 2025, represents a significant step up in both ambition and complexity.

From personal loans to mortgages to regulatory milestone

By August 2025, Block Earner closed an $8 million Series A funding round that valued the company at $75 million. That valuation was driven by what the company described as overwhelming demand for its mortgage products, with interest indications landing somewhere between $400 million and $500 million.

In May 2026, Block Earner became the first crypto company to obtain an Australian Credit Licence (ACL) from ASIC, the country’s corporate regulator. This licence allows Block Earner to originate regulated credit products directly, rather than operating through intermediary structures.

What this means for investors and the broader market

For crypto holders, the product solves a genuine problem: how do you access the value locked up in your Bitcoin without triggering a taxable event by selling? In Australia, where capital gains tax applies to crypto disposals, the ability to borrow against holdings rather than liquidate them carries real financial advantages.

The risks are real and worth spelling out. Bitcoin’s price volatility means collateral values can swing dramatically. A sharp drawdown in BTC could trigger margin calls or forced liquidations. The 50% loan-to-value ratio provides a buffer, but that cushion can evaporate quickly in a severe bear market.

There’s also the question of scale. An $8 million raise is modest relative to the $400 million to $500 million in demand the company claims to see. Scaling a mortgage origination business requires significant capital, robust risk management infrastructure, and operational maturity. Block Earner is attempting to compress that timeline considerably.