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 (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC) into Morpho vaults and borrow stablecoins against them to earn yield.
Wrapped assets are tokens that represent another cryptocurrency on a different blockchain. 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.
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 DefiLlama.
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.
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The collaboration between Morphos and Crypto.com only came a few weeks after a similar integration between Morphos and the US crypto exchange Coinbase.
On Sept. 18, Coinbase announced it was integrating the Morpho lending protocol directly into its app with vaults managed by DeFi advisory company Steakhouse Financial. Like the Crypto.com 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 on‑chain lending markets and potentially earn yields of up to 10.8 %, 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 full‑service crypto “super app,” 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 close stablecoin loopholes 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, Coinbase called the banks’ allegations false in a blog post, stating there is no evidence that stablecoin growth has caused deposit outflows at local banks. The post said:
“The institutions now warning of ‘systemic risk’ are the same ones pocketing tens of billions from card processing fees, which stablecoins could bypass entirely.”
Although the Genius Act, 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.
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