Circle Enables Institutional Borrowing Against Bitcoin
Circle has launched a new service for institutional customers called Digital Asset-Backed Borrowing. This service allows eligible Circle Mint customers to deposit Bitcoin, mint cirBTC, and supply it as collateral to supported third-party lending markets on Arc or Ethereum to borrow USDC without selling their Bitcoin.
The first supported lending protocol is Morpho, with Aave and other protocols set to be added in the future. Borrowed USDC is deposited directly into the customer's Circle Mint balance, while borrowing positions are overcollateralized and collateral requirements are determined by the third-party lending market.
This service marks a broader expansion of institutional crypto-backed borrowing, following the launch of similar services from Anchorage Digital, Lombard, and BitGo in recent months. CirBTC is backed 1:1 by Bitcoin held in custody by Circle National Trust, and was launched on Ethereum in June.