Only one-quarter of mortgage lenders surveyed have familiarity with blockchain technology, despite its recent popularity.

Fannie Mae surveyed mortgage lenders on a variety of topics related to blockchain, including its adoption, application, and potential future usage. These are some of the highlights of the report:

• Even with all the recent headlines about blockchain, only 25% of lenders said they were familiar with the technology and its possible applications in the mortgage business. A majority of lenders (68%) said they have not yet looked into the technology. Of the 20% of lenders that have looked into blockchain, 41% said they plan to adopt it within four years.

• Lenders cited blockchain's potential use for borrower and collateral data as having more applicability than its use as a potential financial instrument. Respondents were most intrigued by the idea of a digital wallet containing borrower information enabling "direct-to-source" validation, followed by a title registry for search and validation to complete title/property transfers.

Although familiarity with blockchain is low, approximately 40% of lenders believe decentralized finance has high to very high potential to disrupt incumbent financial institutions.

Source: Fannie Mae