Users of Crypto.com will soon have the opportunity to lend wrapped crypto assets and earn yields on stablecoins via Morpho, a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol.
A statement released on Thursday revealed that Morpho will initiate stablecoin lending markets on the Cronos blockchain, with the first vaults anticipated this year. This integration enables users to deposit wrapped Ether (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC) into Morpho vaults and borrow stablecoins against them to generate yields.
Wrapped assets are tokens that signify another cryptocurrency on a different blockchain. On Cronos, wrapped tokens like CDCETH and CDCBTC replicate ETH and BTC, permitting users to bring value into the network and access DeFi lending markets without exiting the chain.
Merlin Egalite, co-founder of Morpho, shared with Cointelegraph that the aim is to offer “a trusted user experience in the front, with DeFi infrastructure in the back.” The protocol will be directly integrated into the Crypto.com platforms, allowing its lending features to be accessible to users of the platform.
Morpho, which connects lenders and borrowers on platforms such as Aave and Compound, has become the second-largest DeFi lending protocol, boasting a total value locked of approximately $7.7 billion, as reported by DefiLlama.
Egalite also confirmed that the protocol will be available to US users. Although the Genius Act prevents stablecoin issuers from directly paying reserve yields to holders, he stated, “lending a stablecoin and earning yield is a separate activity, independent of the issuer, so the restriction does not apply.”
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The partnership between Morphos and Crypto.com emerged only weeks after a similar collaboration with the US crypto exchange Coinbase.
On Sept. 18, Coinbase announced its integration of the Morpho lending protocol directly into its app, with vaults managed by DeFi advisory firm Steakhouse Financial. Similar to the Crypto.com integration, this feature enables users to lend USDC (USDC) without having to switch to external DeFi services or wallets.
According to Coinbase, this new integration will allow users to access on-chain lending markets, potentially earning yields of up to 10.8%, significantly exceeding the current 4.5% APY offered for holding USDC on the platform.
A few days later, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the company aims to evolve into a full-service crypto “super app,” ultimately reducing the necessity for traditional banks.
Unsurprisingly, banks have expressed opposition. In August, the Bank Policy Institute (BPI) along with several US financial institutions submitted a letter to Congress urging them to address stablecoin loopholes which they argue permit stablecoin issuers to rival banks without equivalent oversight. They claim that inaction could result in a loss of up to $6.6 trillion in deposits from the US banking system.
On Sept. 16, Coinbase refuted the banks’ claims in a blog post, asserting there is no evidence that stablecoin growth has triggered deposit outflows from local banks. The post stated:
“The institutions now warning of ‘systemic risk’ are the same ones reaping tens of billions from card processing fees, which stablecoins could bypass entirely.”
While the Genius Act, which was enacted in the US in July 2025, prohibits interest-bearing stablecoins, it does not explicitly restrict crypto exchanges or affiliated businesses from offering yield.
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