A major US mortgage lender, United Wholesale Mortgage, came up with a plan to start accepting Bitcoin payments earlier this year, in August. It was the first company of this kind to announce opening its doors to crypto. However, its CEO, Mat Ishbia, now announced that the company has decided not to go through with the plan.
According to Ishbia, the company conducted its tests, and it decided that it is not worth it. There is too much regulatory uncertainty in the crypto space, which, in combination with incremental costs, make the entire initiative more trouble than it is worth. Ishbia said that the firm will not go beyond the pilot at this time, leaving the option of a later introduction of crypto payments open.
The company apparently tried out three different cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin (BTC/USD), Ethereum (ETH/USD), and Dogecoin (DOGE/USD). They also tested the system with multiple different borrowers in order to check the functionality of the process.
The pilot worked, but there was no demand
The company successfully accepted its first crypto mortgage payment in September, followed by five more in October, thus far. However, they noticed that there was no demand for this kind of payment method. Borrowers did like it, according to Ishbia, and many thought it was cool. However, the option to make payments in crypto “wasn’t a driver.”
While unfortunate, the decision is quite understandable, given the circumstances, and it shows that many in the industry still treat cryptocurrencies as an investment instead of a replacement for money. Especially now, with the growing prices, everyone seems to be more interested in HODLing rather than spending coins.
On the positive side, US officials, including the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen as well as the SEC chair Gary Gensler, said that there are no plans to impose restrictions regarding crypto trading or payments.
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