Morpho Lets You Borrow Dollars Against Tokenized Apple and SpaceX Shares
DeFi lending protocol Morpho has opened USDC lending markets for five of Coinbase’s tokenized stocks on Base, marking one of the clearest mergers of traditional equities and onchain finance to date. Holders of tokenized Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia, Meta and SpaceX shares can now pledge their stock tokens as collateral and borrow USDC — giving eligible investors a way to access dollars without selling their positions.
Early adoption is small but accelerating fast. According to Morpho’s own data, users have pledged 104,401 USD in stock tokens as collateral and borrowed 54,652 USDC against them so far. The telling detail is the growth curve: outstanding loans stayed below 600 USD from the markets’ deployment on September 7 until September 16, when borrowing exploded from 503 USD to 42,105 USD in roughly two hours. By Friday morning, the figure had climbed to 54,652 USD.
Five of Ten Coinbase Stock Tokens Supported
The new Morpho markets cover Apple (AAPLc), Alphabet (GOOGLc), Nvidia (NVDAc), Meta Platforms (METAc) and SpaceX (SPCXc). Coinbase currently lists ten stock tokens on Base, but Amazon, Microsoft, Strategy, SanDisk and Tesla do not yet have corresponding Morpho markets.
It has been a rapid buildout. Coinbase initially released Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet tokens in August before adding six more stocks in September, taking the lineup to ten assets. The first four products are backed one-for-one by underlying shares held in a segregated custody arrangement, with each token representing a beneficial interest in the underlying security rather than a synthetic contract that merely tracks its price. Coinbase Onchain SPV Ltd., an entity incorporated in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, issues the securities, which are offered to eligible investors outside the United States under Regulation S.
Steakhouse Curates, Chainlink Prices
Steakhouse Financial curates all five Morpho markets and determines parameters including collateral requirements. Its two Steakhouse High Yield USDC vaults dominate supply, accounting for 98.9% of the dollars in the largest market. For Apple, the vaults supply 24,540 USD of the 24,805 USD deposited into the lending pool.
Collateral pricing runs through Morpho’s Chainlink V2 oracle adapter, drawing on the price feeds Chainlink introduced for Coinbase stock tokens shortly after their Base launch. Each feed calculates the total return value of the corresponding token. The Apple feed showed 335.49 USD on Friday afternoon, compared with a 337.52 USD price for the token on DefiLlama — a tight spread that suggests the oracle infrastructure is functioning as designed.
Liquidation parameters vary by asset. Apple, Nvidia, Meta and SpaceX markets carry a liquidation loan-to-value ratio of 62.5%, while Alphabet carries a higher 77% threshold. At the 62.5% ratio, the Apple market applies a 12.67% liquidation penalty. No liquidation has been recorded since deployment; the largest borrower holds 113.46 AAPLc against a 20,360 USDC loan with a health factor of 1.17.
Meta Borrowers Pay 17.52% as Utilization Maxes Out
All current borrowing is concentrated in Morpho’s variable rate markets — despite fixed-rate alternatives sitting right next door. Apple, Alphabet and Nvidia are running at 90% utilization, matching their interest rate model target, with borrowers paying 5.62% and lenders receiving 5.06%.
Meta tells a different story. Its market has reached 97% utilization, pushing past the model’s target and onto the steeper section of the rate curve. Borrowing costs have consequently surged to 17.52%, with lenders earning 16.98% — a signal that demand for leveraged Meta exposure, or dollars against it, is outstripping supply.
Meanwhile, Morpho’s Midnight fixed-rate layer tells the opposite story. Midnight, launched on Base in July and later expanded to Ethereum, offers fixed-rate and fixed-term lending. For each of the five stock tokens, Midnight lists 19 USDC markets — 95 in total — with maturities running daily through September 30 before extending to October 30, November 27, December 25 and March 26, 2027, plus an open-ended market per token. None has any outstanding loans.
Still a Fraction of the Tokenized Stock Pie
For all the velocity of its growth, stock-collateral lending remains a rounding error in the broader tokenized equity market. Around 11.4 million USD of the five supported stock tokens is outstanding on Base, and the 104,401 USD deposited as Morpho collateral represents less than 1% of that.
Trading activity is where the real volume lives. Token Terminal recorded 730.9 million USD in decentralized exchange volume over the 30 days ending September 12, with daily volume reaching a record 100 million USD. Aerodrome led the way with 557.1 million USD processed, while Uniswap v4 handled another 139.3 million USD.
Morpho itself holds 4.03 billion USD in deposits on Base and 10.42 billion USD across supported chains, according to DefiLlama, with Aave and Euler also listed on Base as venues where eligible holders can borrow against Coinbase’s stock tokens. MORPHO traded at 2.40 USD on Friday, up 11% over 24 hours, with a market capitalization of 1.68 billion USD.
The takeaway: the plumbing for onchain stock-collateralized lending now works end to end — custody-backed tokens, curated markets, reliable oracles. Whether the 80-fold borrowing spike of September 16 was a one-off burst or the start of a durable trend will be the number to watch.
Market snapshot at time of writing (CoinGecko): BTC 80,898 USD (+5.5% 24h), ETH 2,598.56 USD (+5.3% 24h), SOL 111.72 USD (+10.4% 24h).
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. All investments carry risk; readers should conduct their own research before making any decisions.
borrowing went from 503 dollars to 42k in like two hours on sept 16. one whale found the market and kicked the tires lol
and 98.9 percent of the supply is just the Steakhouse vaults. its one curated pool rn, try sizing up on SPCXc collateral and see how thin it gets
right, and amazon, microsoft and tesla tokens dont even have morpho markets yet. the lineup is way thinner than the headline sounds
So now I can get liquidated on tokenized SpaceX shares at 2am thanks to a Chainlink feed. progress I guess
chainlink feeds on pre ipo shares is genuinely new risk. no after hours circuit breakers onchain, the health factor just dies in the dark
503 to 42k borrowed in two hours is wild for a market that sat dead for 9 days. someone found a use case for their AAPLc bags besides just holding them i guess
Interesting that GOOGLc gets a 77% LLTV while the others sit at 62.5%. Suggests Steakhouse sees Alphabet collateral as stickier, or they just trust the feed more. Either way, 12.67% liquidation penalty on Apple is steep.
77 percent LLTV on GOOGLc is bold. one bad earnings gap and that collateral is toast, alphabet aint immune to a 20 percent print
^ its because GOOGL is less volatile than NVDA or SPCX, makes sense to let it go higher. also that health factor of 1.17 on the biggest borrower is gonna get spicy on any gap down