Morpho Vaults make CeFi debut, powering SwissBorg’s USDC yield product

Author: Samuel Haig

Translation: TechFlow

Morpho, a permissionless Web3 lending protocol, is making its debut in the CeFi space.

On August 10, SwissBorg, a crypto fintech platform targeting European markets, announced the launch of a USDC yield product powered by the Morpho protocol. The new offering is now available to users of the SwissBorg app, granting Web2 users access to a customized Morpho Vault.

SwissBorg’s USDC Earn product enables users to participate in Morpho’s WBTC/USDC and wstETH/USDC markets—marking the first time Morpho Vaults have been deployed in a CeFi context.

"This collaboration highlights Morpho’s ambition to not only serve as optimal financial infrastructure for DeFi applications but also support institutions and fintech platforms," Morpho said.

SwissBorg noted that Morpho Vaults provide customizable infrastructure, allowing CeFi platforms to develop dedicated products while mitigating risks associated with traditional Web3 lending protocols, which typically expose all users to multiple assets under a single, standardized risk configuration.

"This targeted approach ensures SwissBorg users benefit from enhanced security and risk-adjusted returns without exposure to high-risk assets," SwissBorg stated. "The new product will be seamlessly integrated into the SwissBorg app, making on-chain yield opportunities easily accessible even to users who typically do not interact directly with blockchains."

Yields are generated through a Vault managed by risk management firm Gauntlet. The current annual return is approximately 3.6%, plus additional MORPHO rewards, with Gauntlet charging a 5% fee.

Founded in 2017, SwissBorg launched its Wealth app in April 2020. Today, the company manages $1.1 billion in custodied assets and has 803,000 verified users.

Morpho’s Growth

Since early 2023, Morpho has experienced rapid growth. According to DeFi Llama, the project’s total value locked (TVL) increased by 647% over 19 months—from $183.3 million to $1.37 billion. Morpho reached an all-time high TVL of $1.91 billion in mid-July.

Morpho’s success is largely attributed to its permissionless Vault infrastructure, which allows third-party developers to build customized lending products using the protocol.

In June, Morpho successfully expanded onto Coinbase’s Layer 2 network Base through a partnership with Moonwell, integrating WETH and USDC lending vaults on the network.

Last month, Centrifuge, a tokenized real-world asset (RWA) protocol, leveraged Morpho Vaults to launch the first RWA lending market on Base. Morpho’s RWA Vaults support tokenized U.S. Treasury funds as collateral, issued by leading tokenized RWA providers Centrifuge, Midas, and Hashnote.

Currently, Morpho’s TVL on Base stands at $78.6 million.