Mike Cagney, former CEO of SoFi and current leader of Figure Technology Solutions (FIGR), is set to challenge Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the first-lien mortgage market. At Consensus Miami, Cagney highlighted that FIGR’s blockchain platform drastically reduces origination costs from $11,000 through GSEs to just $1,000.
FIGR promises both cost efficiency and speed. The company claims its HELOC applications are approved within five minutes, with funding in three days compared to the industry’s standard of 30-45 days. Additionally, FIGR offers loan originators a guaranteed buyer for their loans, mirroring the traditional role played by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Cagney pointed out that while FIGR’s current second-lien HELOC business operates through 308 partner originators, the first-lien market is twenty-five times larger. The firm targets sub-$300,000 mortgages due to inefficiencies in the fee structures supporting smaller GSE-channel loans at existing cost levels.
Cagney also noted that FIGR’s HELOC tokens rank as the ninth-largest crypto asset by market value on public blockchain, surpassing Dogecoin ($0.1128) about six weeks ago.
However, debate persists over what constitutes onchain assets. DeFiLlama founder 0xngmi questioned in a September article whether FIGR’s $12 billion in tokenized real-world assets is genuinely visible on its affiliated Provenance chain, citing only $5 million in BTC and $4 million in ETH, with additional $20 million in YLDS stablecoin supply on the exchange.
Despite these discussions, Figure’s financial margins illustrate a transition from balance-sheet lending. The company’s adjusted EBITDA margin increased from 30% to 55% in 2025 as it shifted to a marketplace model, and Cagney forecasts an 80-85% margin over the next one to two years.
Revenue reached $339 million in 2024 and surged to $510 million in 2025. Estimates for 2026 revenue range from $650 to $680 million. In March, Figure achieved a milestone with monthly originations exceeding $1 billion for the first time.
Cagney also mentioned ongoing discussions with Consensys’ MetaMask regarding integration of Democratized Prime, FIGR’s DeFi protocol for lending against onchain mortgage and auto collateral. Furthermore, he announced a second listing on OPEN, Figure’s blockchain-native equity platform, following the initial listing of FIGR shares along with a $150 million secondary offering.