Circle Launches Bitcoin-Backed USDC Institutional Borrowing and Regulated Custody for cirBTC

Circle National Trust has added OCC-regulated custody for cirBTC, finalizing the infrastructure backing Circle's institutional Digital Asset-Backed Borrowing service. Launched on September 21 across Ethereum and Circle's Arc blockchain, the service allows institutional Circle Mint clients to pledge native Bitcoin, mint 1:1 backed cirBTC, and borrow USDC without selling their crypto holdings. Decentralized lending protocol Morpho serves as the initial lending partner, where cirBTC vaults quickly attracted over $150 million in deposits and outstanding USDC borrowing reached $18.86 million under an 86% liquidation loan-to-value threshold.