Coinbase has added fixed-rate, Bitcoin-backed loans to its lending lineup, allowing users to borrow USDC while keeping their Bitcoin posted as collateral. The new product runs through Morpho's Midnight protocol on the Base network, and borrowers lock in both the interest rate and the repayment date at the moment they open a position. The structure pairs predictable borrowing terms with the ability to keep Bitcoin holdings intact.

With the addition, Coinbase now offers fixed-rate and variable-rate borrowing side by side within the same platform. Fixed terms display the borrowing costs and the maturity date before a loan begins. Variable-rate positions reprice as market conditions shift, while the fixed format holds the quoted cost steady until repayment — a structure closer to conventional term lending.

Coinbase announced the feature in an X post on September 22, 2026:

Keep your Bitcoin, get liquidity. With fixed-rate loans backed by Bitcoin you can lock in your rate and repayment dates before you borrow. Built by @Morpho Midnight on @Base. pic.twitter.com/1oEf6L5Efd — Coinbase (@coinbase) September 22, 2026

Coinbase's existing variable-rate loans are built on Morpho Blue. The company said those loans have surpassed $1.4 billion in outstanding borrowings, backed by roughly $3 billion in collateral. The new fixed-rate option gives borrowers another way to manage repayment costs without selling their Bitcoin.

Midnight Sets Rates and Repayment Dates

Mo launched Midnight on Base in July. The protocol introduces fixed rates and defined maturity dates to onchain lending, a departure from the floating-rate model common across onchain money markets, where borrowing costs move as utilization changes. Its rollout followed Circle's Bitcoin-backed USDC lending launch, which also uses Morpho infrastructure for crypto-backed borrowing. A Morpho spokesperson described Coinbase as the first major consumer platform to offer Midnight at scale.

Coinbase currently offers loans that mature at the end of the current month or the following month, with the company defining month-end as the final Friday. Borrowers must repay before maturity, and lenders can claim the posted collateral if they fail to do so.

Borrowers Gain Another Loan Structure

Coinbase did not disclose the interest rates available through Midnight. A company spokesperson said lenders and borrowers set rates through supply and demand, placing offers on an onchain order book that determines the available terms.

The launch arrives as other crypto platforms expand collateral-based credit. Hyperliquid's BTC-backed stablecoin loans launched this month, allowing users to borrow USDC or USDT against Bitcoin or HYPE, and that service reported $269 million in borrowing on its first day. Combined with Circle's earlier rollout on Morpho's infrastructure, the recent launches give Bitcoin holders multiple venues for posting BTC as loan collateral without exiting their positions.

Onchain Credit Market Keeps Expanding

Under the arrangement, Coinbase manages the customer interface, Morpho runs the lending protocol, and Base — Coinbase's Ethereum layer-2 network — handles settlement. The launch also follows the Coinbase and Stablecore banking partnership announced last week, which brings crypto custody, trading, and payment tools to community banks and credit unions.

Morpho said Midnight holds about $30 million in deposits during its rollout. Morpho Blue, by comparison, carries $5.2 billion in outstanding loans and $16 billion in deposits across its integrations. Morpho also sees potential uses for structured credit and tokenized real-world asset loans, and it plans further integrations, though it has not provided a public timeline. Market makers also use Midnight, and Tenor Labs launched a lending platform on the protocol in July during the early rollout. How quickly Midnight's deposit base grows from that starting point, and which platforms follow Coinbase onto the protocol, will offer observable markers of how far fixed-rate onchain borrowing travels beyond its July rollout.