Compound and Coinbase Expand Institutional DeFi and LaaS Offerings
Compound launched a new institutional market with strict collateral rules, while Coinbase extended lending services to Brazil.
The Compound Foundation activated a dedicated USDC Institutional Market on September 8. This move marks a shift from a general protocol to a service provider for institutions. The launch was funded by a USD 52 million program approved by token holders in May. The market accepts only four collateral assets: ETH, wstETH, WBTC, and cbBTC. ETH offers the highest loan-to-value ratio at 87 percent. Borrowing caps are set at USD 10 million per asset. Liquidation factors range from 86 to 93 percent. Penalties for liquidation sit between 5 and 10 percent. The narrow collateral list aims to reduce risk for institutional borrowers. A dedicated support contact is available for these participants.
DeFi Saver, K3, KPK, and Yearn participated in the launch. The market was oversubscribed on day one. No aggregate figure for total borrowings was disclosed. A supplier incentive program will distribute up to 200,000 USDC over three months. Participants must meet a 100,000 USDC minimum ticket. The eligible deposit cap is USD 20 million. Protocol total value locked stands at USD 1.53 billion. Borrowed funds reached USD 638 million. This represents a 23 percent increase over 30 days. The COMP token rose approximately 9 percent to USD 20.88. The market operates under a multisig structure. Current governance cannot revoke this arrangement immediately. The Governance Working Group calls this a transitional phase.
Coinbase Extends Lending to Brazil
Coinbase rolled out its DeFi Earn product to eligible Brazilian customers on September 9. The product routes USDC deposits through the Coinbase app. These deposits enter an audited Morpho vault curated by Steakhouse Financial. There is no lock-up period for users. Returns are set by on-chain borrow demand. Recent yields have reached up to 7.4 percent annualized. The offering has accumulated nearly USD 500 million in total supply. This sum is from its September 2025 US debut. The Brazil launch extends the Lending-as-a-Service model. It targets Latin America's largest retail crypto market. This move fits Coinbase's broader Everything Exchange strategy.
APX Lending added revolving credit to its stack on September 3. It is Canada's first regulated digital-asset-backed lender. The new facility is a five-year revolving Line of Credit. Collateral includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, or both. The maximum loan-to-value ratio is 60 percent. Annual rates range from 10.49 to 11.99 percent. Rates are tiered by balance. There are no origination or prepayment fees. There are no liquidation fees. Insurance coverage on collateral reaches up to USD 250 million. Collateral is held in segregated BitGo Trust cold storage. This facility completes APX's product suite. It spans fixed-term lending and white-label services. Regulated CeFi infrastructure is converging on embedded distribution models.
Bank Stablecoin Pilot on Stellar
U.S. Bank completed a live pilot transaction on September 9. It used its proprietary dollar-backed stablecoin, USBDC. The transaction moved value between North American and European entities. The movement occurred over the public Stellar blockchain. U.S. Bank is the fifth-largest US commercial bank. The pilot validated the full token lifecycle. This includes minting, payment redemption, freezing, and clawback. The operations ran on the bank's Digital Asset Platform. The platform is internally developed. It remains integrated with core finance systems. Risk and compliance systems are also connected. Management flagged cross-border payment efficiency as a key benefit. This test demonstrates bank-issued rails working on public infrastructure. The source GN auto markets/crypto: digital asset noted this development. It highlights the integration of traditional banking with stablecoin technology.
