Crypto.com customers will quickly be capable of lend wrapped crypto belongings and earn yield on stablecoins via Morpho, a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol.
In keeping with a Thursday assertion, Morpho will launch stablecoin lending markets on the Cronos blockchain, with the primary vaults anticipated this yr. The combination will enable customers to deposit wrapped Ether (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC) into Morpho vaults and borrow stablecoins in opposition to them to earn yield.
Wrapped belongings are tokens that characterize one other cryptocurrency on a special blockchain. On Cronos, wrapped tokens corresponding to CDCETH and CDCBTC mirror ETH and BTC, permitting customers to convey worth into the community and entry DeFi lending markets with out leaving the chain.
Merlin Egalite, co-founder of Morpho, instructed Cointelegraph the purpose is to supply “a trusted person expertise within the entrance, with DeFi infrastructure within the again.” The protocol shall be built-in instantly into the Crypto.com platforms, making its lending options accessible to the platform’s customers.
Morpho, which matches lenders and debtors on prime of platforms corresponding to Aave and Compound, has grow to be the second-largest DeFi lending protocol, with a complete worth locked of round $7.7 billion, in accordance with DefiLlama.
Egalite additionally confirmed that the protocol shall be accessible to US customers. Whereas the Genius Act prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying reserve yields on to holders, “lending a stablecoin and incomes yield is a separate exercise, unbiased of the issuer, so the restriction doesn’t apply,” he stated.
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The collaboration between Morphos and Crypto.com solely got here just a few weeks after an analogous integration between Morphos and the US crypto alternate Coinbase.
On Sept. 18, Coinbase introduced it was integrating the Morpho lending protocol instantly into its app with vaults managed by DeFi advisory firm Steakhouse Monetary. Just like the Crypto.com integration, the characteristic lets customers lend the USDC (USDC) with out leaving the platform for exterior DeFi providers or wallets.
In keeping with Coinbase, the brand new integration will allow customers to entry onchain lending markets and probably earn yields of as much as 10.8%, considerably larger than the present 4.5% APY in rewards given for holding USDC on the platform.
A couple of days later, the CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, stated the corporate goals to grow to be a full-service crypto “tremendous app,” and finally change individuals’s want for conventional banks.
Unsurprisingly, banks are pushing again. In August, the Financial institution Coverage Institute (BPI) and a number of other US monetary establishments wrote a letter to the US Congress urging them to shut stablecoin loopholes that they declare enable stablecoin issuers to compete with banks with out equal oversight. In keeping with the letter, failing to take action may drain as a lot as $6.6 trillion in deposits from the US banking system.
On Sept. 16, Coinbase known as the banks’ allegations false in a weblog publish, stating there isn’t any proof that stablecoin development has prompted deposit outflows at native banks. The publish stated:
“The establishments now warning of ‘systemic danger’ are the identical ones pocketing tens of billions from card processing charges, which stablecoins may bypass solely.”
Though the Genius Act, which was signed into regulation within the US in July 2025, banned interest-bearing stablecoins, it doesn’t explicitly forestall crypto exchanges or affiliated companies from offering yield.
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