Morpho

DeFi

Cronos

Genius

USDC

Crypto.com users will soon be able to lend wrapped crypto assets and earn yield on stablecoins through Morpho, a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol.
According to a Thursday statement, Morpho will launch stablecoin lending markets on the Cronos blockchain, with the first vaults expected this year. The integration will allow users to deposit wrapped Ether (<a href="/ethereum-price" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ETH</a>) or Bitcoin (<a href="/bitcoin-price" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>) into Morpho vaults and borrow stablecoins against them to earn yield.
Wrapped assets are tokens that represent another cryptocurrency on a different blockchain.&nbsp;On Cronos, wrapped tokens such as CDCETH and CDCBTC mirror ETH and BTC, allowing users to bring value into the network and access DeFi lending markets without leaving the chain.
Merlin Egalite, co-founder of Morpho, told Cointelegraph the goal is to provide “a trusted user experience in the front, with DeFi infrastructure in the back.” The protocol will be integrated directly into the Crypto.com platforms, making its lending features accessible to the platform’s users.
<figure><img alt="Crypto.com to integrate Morpho lending, bringing stablecoin yield to Cronos" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-10/0199a664-5c45-7e93-a04d-e9c96d35cc82" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">Total value locked on DeFi lending protocols. Source: <a href="https://defillama.com/protocols/Lending" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">DeFillama</a> 
 </figcaption>
</figure>
Morpho, which matches lenders and borrowers on top of platforms such as Aave and Compound, has become the second-largest DeFi lending protocol, with a total value locked of around $7.7 billion, according to <a href="https://defillama.com/protocols/Lending" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">DefiLlama</a>.&nbsp;
Egalite also confirmed that the protocol will be accessible to US users. While the Genius Act prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying reserve yields directly to holders, “lending a stablecoin and earning yield is a separate activity, independent of the issuer, so the restriction does not apply,” he said.
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-q4-returns-etps-stablecoins-legislation-2025" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Crypto bill, stablecoins, new ETPs to drive Q4 crypto returns</a>
<h2 id="genius-act-leaves-questions-around-stablecoin-yield">Genius Act leaves questions around stablecoin yield</h2>
The collaboration between Morphos and <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Crypto.com</a> only came a few weeks after a similar integration between Morphos and the US crypto exchange Coinbase.&nbsp;&nbsp;
On Sept. 18, Coinbase announced it was <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-defi-offer-yield-usdc-holdings" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">integrating the Morpho lending protocol</a> directly into its app with vaults managed by DeFi advisory company Steakhouse Financial. Like the <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Crypto.com</a> integration, the feature lets users lend the USDC (USDC) without leaving the platform for external DeFi services or wallets.
According to Coinbase, the new integration will enable users to access onchain lending markets and potentially earn <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-defi-offer-yield-usdc-holdings" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-defi-offer-yield-usdc-holdings">yields of up to 10.8%</a>, significantly higher than the current 4.5% APY in rewards given for holding USDC on the platform.
A few days later, the CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, said the company aims to become a <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-super-app-brian-armstrong-banking-vision" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">full-service crypto “super app,”</a> and ultimately replace people’s need for traditional banks.
Unsurprisingly, banks are pushing back. In August, the Bank Policy Institute (BPI) and several US financial institutions wrote a letter to the US Congress urging them to <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-bankers-want-stablecoin-yield-loophole-closed" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">close stablecoin loopholes</a> that they claim allow stablecoin issuers to compete with banks without equivalent oversight. According to the letter, failing to do so could drain as much as $6.6 trillion in deposits from the US banking system.
On Sept. 16, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-stablecoins-myth-of-deposit-erosion" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Coinbase called the banks’ allegations </a>false in a blog post, stating there is no evidence that stablecoin growth has caused deposit outflows at local banks. The <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/blog/Rejecting-the-Banks-Deposit-Erosion-Myth" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="https://www.coinbase.com/blog/Rejecting-the-Banks-Deposit-Erosion-Myth">post</a> said:
<blockquote>
 “The institutions now warning of ‘systemic risk’ are the same ones pocketing tens of billions from card processing fees, which stablecoins could bypass entirely.”
</blockquote>
Although the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/genius-act-scrutinized-stablecoin-yield-ban-tradfi-tokenization" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Genius Act</a>, which was signed into law in the US in July 2025, banned interest-bearing stablecoins, it does not explicitly prevent crypto exchanges or affiliated businesses from providing yield.
Magazine:&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/the-one-thing-these-6-global-crypto-hubs-all-have-in-common/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">The one thing these 6 global crypto hubs all have in common…</a>

Crypto.com to integrate Morpho lending, bringing stablecoin yield to Cronos

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