Second-Biggest Mortgage Provider in US Stops Accepting Crypto Payments

United Wholesale Mortgage, the second-largest mortgage lender in the U.S., has stopped accepting cryptocurrency for home loans, the company said on Thursday.

• In August, the company said it would start offering the crypto payment option via a pilot program to gauge demand for this service. It was the first mortgage lender to do so.

• “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,” the company’s CEO, Mat Ishbia, said in a press release. “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.”

• The Pontiac, Mich.-based company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in January after a merger with Gores Holdings IV, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) at a $16.1 billion valuation for the combined entity.

• United Wholesale Mortgage tried bitcoin, ether and dogecoin and worked with a number of different borrowers to evaluate the crypto lending process, according to CNBC. The network reported that only six homeowners participated in the program.