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Coinbase Adds Fixed‑Rate USDC Loans Backed by cbBTC

Fixing borrowing costs and repayment dates onchain could make crypto loans behave more like traditional consumer credit.

Overview

  • Coinbase, which announced the integration on Tuesday, launched fixed‑rate USDC loans that use cbBTC as collateral through Morpho Midnight on the Base network.
  • Borrowers lock an interest rate and a set repayment date when they open a Midnight loan, and lenders gain the right to claim the cbBTC if the borrower fails to repay by maturity.
  • The product splits roles: Coinbase runs the customer interface, Morpho provides the Midnight lending protocol, and Base records and settles the onchain transfers.
  • Midnight is still small in this rollout, holding about $30 million in deposits, while Coinbase’s variable‑rate product using Morpho Blue has grown to over $1.4 billion in outstanding loans backed by roughly $3 billion in collateral.
  • Morpho says Midnight could later support tokenized securities and real‑world assets, but users should watch loan‑to‑value rules, liquidation mechanics, and geographic limits on availability.