Coinbase reintroduced a loan that lets people post Bitcoin and receive USDC without selling their BTC. It is available across the United States except for New York residents, and market data shows the program has already outgrown its early size targets within months. The appeal is straightforward: you get spendable dollars, rates beat most bank loans, and both small users and large institutions can qualify.
You pledge Bitcoin as collateral, proven by a live on-chain reserve feed. The money movement runs on Base, Coinbase’s blockchain, and you receive USDC, a digital dollar, with a published starting interest rate of 5%. You can repay when you want, preserving your Bitcoin exposure rather than selling it.
Credit limits are scaling rapidly: the initial ceiling of $100,000 rose to $1,000,000 within weeks, with the team saying $5,000,000 is next. Regular savers, miners, and public firms like KULR and CleanSpark have already signed on, bringing institutional-sized access without traditional bank hurdles.
Two core technologies power the product: Morpho, a lending protocol that sources liquidity, and cbBTC, an Ethereum token representing locked Bitcoin one-to-one. Morpho loan volume crossed $500 million in locked coins, and the overall project issued more than $1 billion in loans by September 2025. CEO Brian Armstrong frames this as a step toward a “crypto super app” built on stablecoins and bundled services. A stablecoin is a blockchain token designed to stay worth one dollar, and USDC is the token you receive.
How it works and why it counts
Users unlock cash while keeping their Bitcoin and can defer capital gains taxes since they borrow instead of sell, aligning liquidity needs with long-term holding strategies.
Risk remains if the Bitcoin price falls too far, as the system may liquidate collateral to cover the loan, making prudent leverage and monitoring essential.
Miners and firms gain access to million-dollar credit lines without relying on banks, matching treasury needs to on-chain liquidity and speed.
Lawmakers are still shaping the environment, as the product arrives while Congress drafts stablecoin rules and Coinbase lobbies for clear guidelines, which could influence scale and supervision.
Next, Coinbase plans to lift the individual limit toward $5,000,000 and add more on-chain tools, with timing shaped by how quickly Washington finalizes stablecoin law and how watchdogs supervise the product. For borrowers, the practical upshot is faster dollar liquidity against Bitcoin without selling it.
