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The nations second-largest mortgage lender aims to give borrowers the option to pay their mortgages in Bitcoin by the end of the year. United Wholesale Mortgage says itll be the first mortgage company in the U.S. to accept cryptocurrency in exchange for monthly payments.

UWM is planning to accept Bitcoin because we have nearly one million consumers who pay us a monthly mortgage payment, and were always trying to find a way to make things easier for our clients, says Mat Ishbia, the companys chairman and CEO.

The move raises familiar questions about cryptocurrency, and whether this virtual money can function as a means of exchange in addition to its well-known role as a vehicle for speculation. Financial experts dont expect a rush of people paying their mortgage this way.

It is nice to know that individuals can pay off their mortgage with cryptocurrency, but because of operational issues for the individual investor, I think very few will, says Clark Kendall, a financial advisor who runs Kendall Capital Management in Rockville, Maryland.

United Wholesale Mortgage is the nations No. 2 mortgage lender. It originated more than 560,000 loans in 2020, a tally that trailed only Rocket Mortgage, according to a Bankrate analysis of federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.

Ishbia says United Wholesale Mortgage will open by accepting Bitcoin, the most prominent cryptocurrency. Its total market value is approaching $1 trillion.

Ishbia said his company is looking into accepting other virtual coins as well. He didnt name names, but Ethereum, Cardano, XRP and Litecoin are among the most widely held cryptocurrencies.

United Wholesale Mortgage has released no details about how the payments might work. Will consumers pay from accounts with Coinbase or other cryptocurrency brokerages? Its unclear.

The company is still ironing out those issues with federal authorities. The great part of working in such a carefully regulated industry is that we are able to work directly with regulators to ensure were doing right by everyone before a change like accepting cryptocurrency comes to pass, Ishbia says.

Bitcoin has been a subject of intense interest in the past year, and its price has moved accordingly. In September 2020, a single bitcoin traded for a bit more than $10,000. By April 2021, the price was flirting with $65,000.

Within months of reaching that high point, Bitcoin plunged below $30,000. Its on the rise again, nearing $50,000. That roller-coaster ride is the opposite of the stability that is the hallmark of such major currencies as the dollar and the euro.

Bitcoins volatility raises a number of challenges. For one, theres a mismatch between a debt payment denominated in a stable currency and a means of exchange whose price fluctuates wildly.

If your monthly mortgage payment is $1,000, do you send in $800 or $1,200 worth of Bitcoin for this months payment? Kendall asks.

Greg McBride, Bankrates chief financial analyst, is similarly wary. I wouldnt recommend basing the certainty of next months mortgage payment on the price of a stock youre holding now, and I certainly wouldnt recommend doing so based on a speculative asset, he says.

Bitcoins value can move so sharply that borrowers might even fret about a jump in value in the moments between the time the payment is made and the account is credited.

For true believers in Bitcoin, the concept of using cryptocurrency to pay the bills is counterintuitive. If you think the value of Bitcoin will rocket past $100,000, why would you use it to pay the mortgage when boring old dollars will accomplish the same task?

Taxes are another stumbling block. While tax policies around cryptocurrency are a work in progress, the IRS considers using cryptocurrency to buy something or to pay an expense a potentially taxable event. So the seemingly simple act of trading bitcoins for a mortgage payment could trigger the capital gains tax, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants says.

I could only see recommending using cryptocurrencies to pay off debt if the investor was looking to unload their cryptocurrency and pay off their mortgage in full, Kendall says. Using cryptocurrencies to make monthly mortgage payments does not make operational sense in my book.

Original post:
Youll soon be able to pay the mortgage in Bitcoin but should you? - Bankrate.com

The euphoria seen across the cryptocurrency ecosystem over the past couple of weeks was tampered down on Thursday as an early morning attempt by bulls to push the price of Bitcoin (BTC) to $50,000 was soundly rejected.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that following its rejection, the price of Bitcoin slid to a low of $46,457 before bulls managed to regroup and put a halt to the downturn.

Heres what analysts are saying about Thursdays price action for Bitcoin and a few things they are watching for as the digital asset is caught between a tug-o-war between bulls and bears.

The $50,000 price level was identified as a critical area for Bitcoin by market analyst and Cointelegraph contributor Michal van de Poppe, who posted the following tweet outlining the significant support and resistance areas.

According to van de Poppe, Bitcoin is likely to spend some time in a downward trend following this latest pullback, but there is a significant amount of support at the $44,000 level that could protect it from further decline.

The $51,000 price level was noted by van de Poppe as an important price to overcome to invalidate the current bearish trend.

The analystsaid:

According to Whalemap, a crypto-focused data tracking service, the calls for a lengthy bear cycle are premature at best.

As seen in the chart provided, the $46,200 support level is important, as the next support level is found at $39,600. On-chain data also shows that there is a limited amount of selling volume between $46,200 and $57,400.

Whalemap analystssaid:

Related: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust FUD is now over as the last GBTC unlock totals just 58 BTC

Crypto analyst Will Clemente III issued some reassuring words on Tuesday when warned of a possible short-term bearish pullback based on exchange inflows and whale wallet activity.

Thursdays pullback in the market showed that Clemente IIIs concerns were warranted, and the analyst followed the previous tweet with, I think the large portion of this short-term move is probably over.

In a separate tweet, Clemente IIIsaid:

The overall cryptocurrency market capitalization now stands at $1.999 trillion, and Bitcoins dominance rate is 44.2%.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

See original here:
Analysts say Bitcoin price pullback and profit-taking at $50K was expected - Cointelegraph

The parents of two teenagers allegedly responsible for stealing $1 million in Bitcoin are being sued.

According to court documents obtained by Brian Krebs, Andrew Schober lost 16.4552 in Bitcoin (BTC) in 2018 after his computer was infected with malware, allegedly the creation of two teenagers in the United Kingdom.

The complaint (.PDF), filed in Colorado, accuses Benedict Thompson and Oliver Read, who were minors at the time, of creating clipboard malware.

The malicious software, designed to monitor cryptocurrency wallet addresses, was downloaded and unwittingly executed by Schober after he clicked on a link, posted to Reddit, to install the Electrum Atom cryptocurrency application.

During a transfer of Bitcoin from one account to another, the malware triggered a Man-in-The-Middle (MiTM) attack, apparently replacing the address with one controlled by the teenagers and thereby diverting the coins into their wallets.

According to court documents, this amount represented 95% of the victim's net wealth at the time of the theft. At today's price, the stolen Bitcoin is worth approximately $777,000.

"Mr. Schober was planning to use the proceeds from his eventual sale of the cryptocurrency to help finance a home and support his family," the complaint reads.

The pair, tracked down during an investigation paid for by Schober, are now adults and are studying computer science at UK universities.

The mothers and fathers of Thompson and Read are named in the complaint. Emails were sent to the parents prior to the complaint requesting that the teenagers return the stolen cryptocurrency to prevent legal action from being taken.

The letter reads, in part:

"As his parents, I am appealing to you to first give him the chance to make this right, without involving law enforcement. Your son is obviously a very intelligent young man. I do not wish for him to be robbed of his future."

However, the requests, sent in 2018 and 2019, were met with silence.

Schober's complaint claims that the parents "knew or reasonably should have known" what their children were up to, and that they also failed to take "reasonable steps" in preventing further harm.

In response (.PDF), the defendants do not argue the charge, but rather have requested a motion to dismiss based on two- and three-year statutes of limitation.

"Despite his knowledge of his injury and the general cause thereof, Plaintiff waited to file his lawsuit beyond the two and three years required of him by the applicable statutes of limitations," court documents say. "For this reason, Plaintiff's claims against Defendants should be dismissed."

However, Schober's legal team has argued (.PDF) that the teenagers were not immediately traced, and roughly a year passed between separately identifying Read and Thompson.

Schober's lawyers have requested that the motion to dismiss is denied.

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Read more from the original source:
Parents of teens who stole $1 million in Bitcoin sued by alleged victim - ZDNet