Bitcoin Loans Are Coming For Your Mortgage

Figure’s business is built around making consumer lending faster, cheaper, and more standardized, with home equity and mortgage products as the core use case. Michael Tannenbaum argued that rising home prices and higher rates have trapped homeowners in low-rate mortgages, pushing more people toward home equity lines of credit and debt consolidation rather than refinancing or moving. He said Figure’s model cuts the average mortgage process from about 45 days to 9 days and reduces origination costs from an industry average of $12,000 to about $1,000 by removing third parties and using models instead of traditional underwriters and appraisers.

He also framed Figure as a blockchain-native capital markets platform rather than a consumer crypto brand. Tannenbaum said blockchain reduces diligence costs, helps prevent fraud, and lets investors and funding partners trust standardized loan data on chain. He expects the company to expand beyond mortgages into investor mortgages, auto lending, personal loans, and small business lending, with AI helping standardize closed loans and improve conversion.

On the investment side, Tannenbaum said Figure is growing at a “Rule of 150” pace because it has broken the usual trade-off between growth and margin. He said the company earns fees when loans are sold and over the life of servicing, and that its 500 partners help drive scale without Figure shouldering all the customer acquisition cost.