Coinbase Revives Stablecoin Funding Program to Bolster DeFi Liquidity

Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) said on Tuesday it is reviving its Stablecoin Bootstrap Fund, aiming to boost stablecoin liquidity on decentralized finance (DeFi) markets.

The initiative will be managed by Coinbase Asset Management and begins with deployments on Aave, Morpho, Kamino and Jupiter, according to a blog post.

The exchange first launched the program in 2019 to help protocols seed early trading pools for USDC stablecoin. That effort supported early platforms like Uniswap (UNI), Compound (COMP) and dYdX (DYDX) and helped spearhead USDC in the DeFi ecosystem, which is still the most widely used stablecoin in the sector.

In its new iteration, the initiative will allocate capital across both established and emerging protocols, aiming to ensure users can access stable yields and efficient markets.

While Coinbase has not disclosed the size of the fund or specific amounts for each deployment, a company spokesperson told CoinDesk it will test placements across multiple networks before scaling further. Currently, the fund provides capital in USDC and EURC, Circle’s euro-pegged stablecoin, the company added.

Coinbase’s move comes as the DeFi sector’s growth is accelerating amid red-hot crypto markets and easing regulatory headwinds in the U.S. There are almost $200 billion of assets held across DeFi protocols collectively, nearly doubling since April but still below its 2021 peak, DefiLlama data shows.