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Coinbase Launches Fixed‑Rate USDC Loans Backed by cbBTC

Routing fixed‑term loans through Morpho Midnight on Base, the feature gives borrowers predictable costs as the protocol seeks deeper liquidity.

Overview

  • A loan announced Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, lets Coinbase customers lock an interest rate and a short maturity when borrowing USDC against cbBTC collateral.
  • Coinbase handles the app experience while Morpho supplies the lending layers—Midnight for fixed‑rate, Blue for variable‑rate—and transactions settle on the Base L2 network.
  • The fixed‑rate product sits beside Coinbase’s existing Morpho Blue business, which has more than $1.4 billion in outstanding loans backed by roughly $3 billion in collateral and is part of roughly $3.6 billion of Coinbase collateral deployed on Morpho.
  • Morpho Midnight’s liquidity is still small, holding about $30 million in deposits compared with Morpho Blue’s multi‑billion scale, so fixed‑rate markets will need more depth for broad, liquid trading.
  • The design gives borrowers predictable costs without selling bitcoin but raises an operational risk because lenders can claim cbBTC if a loan is unpaid at maturity even when the collateral appears healthy.