Can You Really Buy A House Without Selling Your Crypto? | Vishal Garg

Summary

Vishal Garg, CEO of Better, explains how the US mortgage industry wastes $450B annually on inefficient processes. He details Better's AI-driven platform that automates underwriting and processing, its crypto-backed mortgages with Coinbase, tokenized mortgage plans with Sky, and the company's transformation from a refi-focused lender to an AI platform. Garg argues the market misprices the stock and shares lessons from running a public company.

• US mortgage market has $15T outstanding with 400bps of government-guaranteed intermediation, costing $450B/year.
• Better.com is a digital mortgage platform using AI loan officers, processors, and underwriters to reduce origination cost below $2,000.
• Better launched crypto-backed mortgages with Coinbase, allowing Bitcoin and USDC as down payment without margin calls.
• Partnership with Sky (Maker) aims to tokenize mortgages and provide lower-cost capital, potentially cutting mortgage rates by 50-100bps.
• Better's business is shifting from direct-to-consumer to a platform model, powering mortgages for fintechs, banks, and brokers.
• CEO Vishal Garg believes the public market undervalues Better, treating it as a rate-sensitive refi play rather than an AI transformation.
• He has been buying the stock personally and targets breakeven adjusted EBITDA by September.
• Lessons include managing public company boards, retaining talent after IPO, and pushing AI adoption deeply across the organization.