KuCoin has upgraded its Institutional Interest-Free Lending Program by adding support for its Unified Trading Account (UTA), as the crypto platform seeks to streamline capital management for institutional clients.

The upgrade lowers the external 30-day trading-volume requirement for newly registered API clients from 30 million USDT to 10 million USDT. Eligible clients can also receive 0% interest for the first two months without any trading-volume requirement.

Under the revised program, eligible institutional clients can borrow up to 3 million USDT. Borrowed funds can be used for Spot, Margin, and Futures trading, while borrowing is available in USDT, USDC, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.

KuCoin said the integration is intended to reduce capital fragmentation across separate trading accounts. The company said institutions operating across multiple products and strategies can face higher costs and operational friction when capital is split between accounts.

UTA provides eligible users with a single account structure for managing capital across supported trading products. With institutional lending integrated into that framework, borrowed funds can be deployed across Spot, Margin, and Futures without transfers between separate trading accounts.

According to KuCoin, the setup is meant to bring financing closer to execution and help professional trading teams deploy collateral and capital more efficiently. The company said the upgraded infrastructure is focused on how institutions access, manage, and deploy digital assets across different trading strategies.

KuCoin launched targeted interest-free credit in 2024, initially giving eligible API traders and quantitative teams access to up to 500,000 USDT, along with fee support, enhanced connectivity, higher API limits and technical assistance.

In 2025, the borrowing limit rose to 3 million USDT. The program also added support for multiple borrowing assets and allowed clients to combine funds from sub-accounts as margin across eligible products.

KuCoin said the 2026 upgrade is the latest stage in the program’s development, moving beyond targeted credit support toward a more integrated institutional capital infrastructure. The company also said the latest changes lower the entry requirement for newly registered API clients, which could expand access to the lending program.

Alison Qin, Head of KuCoin Institutional & VIP, said professional market participants need flexible and capital-efficient access to liquidity.

She added that institutional lending infrastructure must combine financing at scale with tailored terms and competitive pricing to support sophisticated trading strategies.

Qin said integrating lending with UTA brings capital closer to the accounts and products used for those strategies, while helping clients maintain control over execution and risk.

KuCoin said the upgrade is part of its broader product development strategy, connecting financing, account infrastructure and execution for institutional users in the digital asset market.

Founded in 2017, KuCoin said it serves more than 45 million users across more than 200 countries and regions. The platform provides access to more than 1,500 digital assets and said its compliance framework includes AUSTRAC registration in Australia, a MiCA license in Europe, and regulatory progress in other markets.