Morpho Opens Borrowing Against Coinbase's Tokenized Stocks
Morpho has enabled lending and borrowing markets on Base that accept five of Coinbase's tokenized stocks as collateral, allowing holders to pledge those tokens and draw USDC at variable or fixed rates. The markets — for Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia, Meta Platforms and SpaceX tokens — launched on Sept. 7, with most borrowing activity occurring in variable-rate markets since mid-September.
Why It Matters
This development expands on-chain credit options for holders of Coinbase-issued stock tokens, letting them access liquidity without selling positions and linking TradFi-listed equity exposure to decentralized lending infrastructure. The activity also highlights how a small number of curators and large vaults can dominate supply and terms in nascent tokenized-stock markets.
Key Facts
- Launch date: Markets deployed on Sept. 7
- Tokens accepted: Apple (AAPLc), Alphabet (GOOGLc), Nvidia (NVDAc), Meta Platforms (METAc), SpaceX (SPCXc)
- Borrowed against tokens: Borrowers pledged $104,401 of stock tokens and drew $54,652 as of 9:48 a.m. ET
- Supply across markets: $60,265 supplied across five markets
- Largest supplier: Steakhouse Financial curates all five markets; Steakhouse High Yield USDC vaults supply 98.9% of dollars in the largest market
Morpho has opened lending and borrowing markets on Base that accept five of Coinbase’s tokenized stocks as collateral, the protocol said in a post on X. Holders of Apple (AAPLc), Alphabet (GOOGLc), Nvidia (NVDAc), Meta Platforms (METAc) and SpaceX (SPCXc) tokens can pledge them to draw USDC at either variable or fixed rates. Coinbase issues these tokens for users outside the United States; token holders retain custody in self-custodial wallets rather than in a brokerage account.
According to Morpho’s API, borrowers had pledged $104,401 of the stock tokens and withdrawn $54,652 against them as of 9:48 a.m. ET, with $60,265 supplied across the five markets. The markets and their parameters are curated and deployed by third parties — in this case Steakhouse Financial curates all five — and Morpho said the markets are not available to U.S. persons or other restricted jurisdictions. The market contracts themselves carry no permissioning; the jurisdictional restriction is enforced by the tokens, which Coinbase issues through Coinbase Onchain SPV Ltd under Abu Dhabi Global Market prospectuses for non-U.S. customers.
All five markets went live on Sept. 7. Morpho’s historical data shows borrowing remained below $600 until Sept. 16, when activity jumped from $503 to $42,105 in roughly two hours and has since grown to the current level. All borrowing to date has taken place in the variable-rate markets; the protocol’s fixed-rate layer, Midnight, lists 19 USDC maturities per token (95 markets total) but shows zero units outstanding across those fixed markets.
Market mechanics vary by token: Apple, Nvidia, Meta and SpaceX markets carry a liquidation loan-to-value (LLTV) of 62.5%, while the Alphabet market is set at 77%. Each market sources price data from a Chainlink feed via Morpho’s Chainlink V2 oracle adapter. Utilization and rates differ by market — Apple, Alphabet and Nvidia sit at about 90% utilization, where borrowers pay 5.62% and lenders earn 5.06%. The Meta market is at 97% utilization and shows a steeper curve, with borrowers paying 17.52% and lenders earning 16.98%.
The five tokens have about $11.4 million outstanding on Base based on contract total supply and Morpho prices; the $104,401 pledged on Morpho represents under 1% of that total. Morpho holds $4.03 billion in deposits on Base and $10.42 billion across chains, per DefiLlama. Other protocols listed on Base’s stocks page, such as Aave and Euler, also offer borrowing against these Coinbase-issued tokens. CoinGecko data showed MORPHO trading at $2.40, up 11% over 24 hours, with a market capitalization of $1.68 billion at the time of reporting.
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