Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has rolled out crypto-backed loans for users in the United Kingdom, allowing users to borrow USDC against Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Coinbase Wrapped Staked Ether (cbETH) holdings.

 

The launch, announced this Monday, is part of Coinbase’s overall efforts to build a leading financial app in the UK that allows users to invest, manage, and grow their money.

 

 

The loans will be issued through Morpho, a decentralized finance lending protocol on Base, and according to Coinbase, users will be able to borrow up to $5 million in USDC, depending on the amount of Bitcoin and other eligible assets they hold as collateral. Coinbase says the interest rates will vary, depending on market conditions on Base, and that these rates will be set by Morpho.

 

It is also important to note that while there is no fixed repayment schedule for the borrowed loans, borrowers face liquidation risk if the loan-to-value ratio exceeds specific thresholds that will be set by Coinbase.

 

The crypto-backed loans can be accessed through the Coinbase app, where users can choose the amount of USDC they want to borrow and their preferred collateral asset. Once this is done, the pledged collateral will be transferred on-chain to a Morpho smart contract, and the USDC loans will be automatically disbursed to the user’s Coinbase account, which can then be converted to British pounds (GBP).

 

Coinbase Expands Its Crypto Efforts

Coinbase is one of the cryptocurrency exchanges leading development at the intersection of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

 

In an X post last weekend, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced that the exchange was testing and integrating two AI agents into Slack and email. These AI agents will serve as virtual workers, able to perform on-chain actions such as holding funds, spending and sending money, trading, and earning yield.

 

This recent development comes shortly after Coinbase launched the x402 Foundation, designed to enhance the use of its x402 protocol as a standard payment protocol for internet native payments.

 

To achieve its “Everything Exchange” goal, Coinbase made a number of significant acquisitions last year, including the acquisition of the Deribit exchange and Echo. The exchange has also rolled out stock and ETF trading in-app for all eligible users, with its most recent rollout in Canada.