Base Launches Earn and Borrow for Stablecoin Yield

Base has launched Earn and Borrow, a service that allows apps to offer variable stablecoin returns and crypto-backed loans without sending users to separate DeFi platforms. Deposits, borrowing and wallet approvals can remain inside the app.

Base’s product page cites an average yield of 4.45% for U.S. dollar stablecoins across tracked Base lending markets, before additional incentives. The figure is a market average, not a guaranteed return for a specific vault, protocol or user. Rates can change with borrowing demand, liquidity and market conditions.

An app can accept supported assets such as USDC and use a selected wallet to sign transactions. The funds may be deposited into a Morpho vault, supplied directly to a Morpho market or supplied to Aave. Interest paid by borrowers is the main source of lender returns. Protocols or ecosystem programs may provide additional rewards.

Apps can also offer loans secured by crypto collateral. A customer may supply WETH and borrow USDC through Morpho or Aave. These loans are overcollateralized, meaning the collateral must be worth more than the debt. A fall in the collateral’s price or an increase in the debt can trigger liquidation.

Base’s documentation describes a Morpho borrowing flow in which an app supplies collateral and borrows from a specified WETH-USDC market in one transaction bundle. Its Aave example requires the user to supply WETH, enable it as collateral and borrow USDC at a variable rate. The example uses 2 WETH and 2,000 USDC, while the documentation warns that production applications must use current market parameters and health checks.

Data from DefiLlama reviewed on Oct. 15, 2026, showed about $4.38 billion in total value locked on Morpho’s Base deployment and approximately $2.18 billion in outstanding borrowing. Aave V3 on Base held about $533 million in total value locked, with roughly $356 million borrowed.

Individual markets showed different rates. An Aave Base market tracker listed about $186 million in supplied USDC at a supply rate of approximately 3.91% and about $167 million borrowed at a rate near 4.86% on Oct. 15. Morpho vaults on Base included Spark USDC at around 4.26% and Steakhouse USDC pools ranging from about 3.5% to 4.75%. The rates may include different reward arrangements and can change with liquidity and utilization.

Coinbase Developer Platform documentation describes a Morpho vault deposit using a CDP wallet and the Steakhouse USDC vault on Base. In the example, the user approves the vault to spend USDC, deposits 100 USDC through the vault’s ERC-4626 deposit function and later withdraws the assets or redeems the vault shares. The process can be adapted to other Morpho vaults by changing the vault address and token details.

Base does not select, operate or guarantee the vaults used by applications. Morpho vault curators choose markets and risk limits, while Aave sets risk parameters for its lending markets. Apps are responsible for identifying the protocol, vault or market shown to users and explaining the related risks.

Those risks include smart-contract failures, oracle errors, stablecoin depegging, liquidation and loss of funds. Withdrawals may be delayed when available market liquidity is low. Base’s documentation advises apps to display collateral values, debt, health factors and liquidation information before users sign borrowing transactions.