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Stablecoin issuer Circle has introduced a Bitcoin-backed borrowing service aimed at institutional users, enabling eligible Circle Mint customers to pledge BTC collateral to borrow USDC via onchain lending markets. The feature is designed to keep borrowers within existing Circle custody relationships while still tapping decentralized liquidity.

Dubbed Digital Asset-Backed Borrowing, the service allows customers to deposit Bitcoin, mint Circle’s wrapped Bitcoin token cirBTC, and then supply that wrapped asset as collateral on supported lending protocols on Arc or Ethereum. Circle says Morpho is the first supported lending venue, with plans to add Aave and other protocols later.

Key takeaways

• Circle Mint users can use Bitcoin as collateral to borrow USDC on supported DeFi lending markets.
• The new workflow converts deposited BTC into cirBTC, which is then posted to lending protocols (starting with Morpho).
• Borrowing terms such as rates, collateral requirements, and liquidation thresholds are set by the third-party lending market, not by Circle.
• Circle says borrowed USDC is credited directly to the customer’s Circle Mint balance.
• New York clients are excluded, and collateral is supplied from a customer-controlled wallet to third-party protocols rather than being lent directly by Circle.

How Circle’s Bitcoin-to-USDC borrowing works

Circle’s announcement frames the product around a practical institutional requirement: getting onchain borrowing exposure without breaking custody workflows. Under Digital Asset-Backed Borrowing, eligible Circle Mint customers begin by depositing Bitcoin. Circle then mints cirBTC—a wrapped Bitcoin token—so it can be used as collateral in DeFi lending.

Customers supply the resulting collateral to third-party lending markets. Circle emphasizes that collateral is provided through a customer-controlled wallet to DeFi protocols, rather than being lent directly by Circle itself. In turn, the lending protocol determines the key parameters that govern the position.

According to Circle, the borrowed USDC is deposited into the customer’s Circle Mint balance. That separation matters for institutional users who may want clearer accounting and settlement paths—particularly where the collateral remains tied to custody processes they already understand.

The rollout is also closely tied to Circle’s wrapped Bitcoin infrastructure. Circle previously launched cirBTC on Ethereum in June, and the token is backed 1:1 by Bitcoin held in custody by Circle National Trust. With this service, that existing wrapped-BTC bridge to lending markets is being converted into an institutional borrowing feature.

Morpho first, with more lending protocols planned

Circle’s borrowing service is not limited to a single DeFi venue. The company says Morpho is the first supported lending protocol for customers using cirBTC collateral. Circle also plans to expand to Aave and additional protocols as the service develops.

Circle also specified that borrowed positions are overcollateralized. Liquidation thresholds and collateral requirements are set by the third-party lending market, reflecting the fact that risk management comes from the protocol where the collateral is deployed.

Operationally, the service supports routes on both Arc and Ethereum, depending on the supported deployment of each lending market. Circle’s approach positions the product to work across its broader stablecoin and onchain payments ecosystem rather than limiting functionality to Ethereum alone.

Arc mainnet timing: cirBTC goes live on Arc

The launch of Bitcoin-backed borrowing comes alongside an important infrastructure milestone for Circle’s wrapped BTC token. Circle says cirBTC is scheduled to be live on Arc on Monday, referencing a separate announcement that the token is now available on the Arc network via Arc’s blog.

This sequencing appears intentional. Circle has been building Arc as a layer-1 blockchain intended for stablecoin payments and financial market use cases. Earlier coverage noted that Circle rolled out Arc mainnet this week, and that the network uses USDC as its native gas token. The same coverage also pointed to Arc’s support for tokenized assets including BlackRock’s BUIDL and Circle’s USYC.

For investors and builders, the practical question is whether new collateral and borrowing routes can gain traction fast enough to matter. By aligning cirBTC availability with lending product rollout, Circle is effectively reducing the friction between “having collateral” and “using that collateral to access liquidity.”

Institutional custody-first borrowing is becoming a market pattern

Circle’s product fits a broader shift in crypto finance: institutions want yield and liquidity options, but they increasingly prefer models that avoid constant collateral movement or custody changes.

Earlier in the year, similar thinking appeared in other offerings. In February, for example, Anchorage Digital partnered with Kamino to enable institutions to borrow against staked Solana (SOL) held at Anchorage. The emphasis there, like Circle’s now, was on accessing onchain liquidity without taking collateral out of qualified custody.

Bitcoin-backed lending followed a comparable theme in March. Lombard partnered with Bitwise to support borrowing against BTC held in custody, with Morpho providing lending infrastructure. The key difference Circle’s rollout highlights is that Lombard’s design aimed to keep underlying Bitcoin in custody without wrapping or bridging it—whereas Circle’s model explicitly relies on converting deposited BTC into cirBTC for collateral use.

Other custody-friendly lending expansions also emerged. In March, BitGo expanded its institutional lending offering with a portfolio-based approach that allows multiple assets to serve as collateral. Circle’s framework is different, but it reinforces the same larger trend: institutional-friendly crypto lending increasingly comes packaged with structured custody and clearer operational boundaries.

Circle’s decision to exclude New York clients underscores that regulatory and eligibility constraints continue to shape which institutional users can access these products.

What to watch next

Circle’s next steps—especially the planned addition of Aave and other lending protocols—will determine how broadly institutions can deploy cirBTC collateral and how competitive borrowing conditions become across venues. For now, the key signal is whether the Arc+cirBTC integration and the Morpho-first rollout can translate into meaningful adoption among eligible Circle Mint customers.

The SEC framework allows trading through automated market makers, or AMMs, rather than a traditional order book. An AMM holds pools of assets and uses preset rules to price trades. That could allow stock tokens to trade around the clock as long as a pool has enough assets.

But round-the-clock trading does not necessarily mean better trading, according to Noch, as thin liquidity can produce poor prices.

The SEC has also placed tight limits on its experiment. Tokens must represent NMS stocks and preserve the economic interest, dividends, voting rights and liquidation rights attached to the underlying shares. Third-party tokenizers must notify a company before trading its stock, giving the issuer 30 days to object. Trading volume is capped.

Those requirements could make the U.S. model harder to adopt than tokenized stock products already offered overseas.

Issuer interest is another question.

“Our conversations with dozens of issuers, including several highly retail-facing, have revealed minimal interest in tokenizing their stocks outside crypto-adjacent companies such as Figure,” Noch wrote.

Figure offers a glimpse at the size of that hurdle. Its Nasdaq-listed FIGR shares trade alongside blockchain-native FGRS shares that carry the same economic exposure and voting rights. Yet 99.9% of Figure’s notional trading took place through its traditional listed shares during the 24-hour period examined by TD.

We need a plot twist in climate storytelling, moving beyond the threat and into the thrilling adventure of solving it. Tales of the messy decades in which billions of people change how they power homes, grow food, travel, build cities, and protect one another from a climate that has already changed

Culture makers are beginning to catch on. I’ve been invited by television and film writers, social-media creators, and brands to help climate solutions appear in comedy, drama, adventure, and everyday life. Ever more box-office hits, like The Wild Robot, Avatar, and the upcoming Digger, reflect our fight against climate and nature crises. Sesame Street is helping kids cope with extreme weather. New climate fiction novels weave answers into stirring worldbuilding. These all work because they are compelling and moving stories above all, not climate science lectures dressed in a thin veil of narrative. Many other scriptwriters, novelists, social media creators, musicians and artists must add to this list.

In light of the ban, the other major television networks are standing with CNN by declining to replace its White House pool crew. The decision means the shared TV pool will not cover Trump’s events that have been designated for pool coverage.

In a rare joint statement, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC said: “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No Administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.”

Bryan Boughton, chair of the TV pool and Fox News Washington bureau chief, had earlier issued a memo to the White House press corps detailing the decision. “This is to advise that, effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President,” read the memo, according to CNN. “This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place. All other pool coverage will continue as normal, including Congress, VIPs, and selected events in Washington and around the country.”

The Associated Press also sent a note to media late Monday morning, informing them of the changed plans. “Please be advised that no network travel pool is expected to be with U.S. President Donald Trump today as he heads to New York for the United Nations General Assembly,” read the notice.

TIME has reached out to the White House for comment.

Bitcoin has broken above $85,000 as renewed U.S. buying and forced short covering have put Nansen’s next targets at $87,000 and $90,000, even as large crypto traders remain net short.

Nansen Senior Research Analyst Nicolai Sondergaard told crypto.news that Bitcoin’s price has turned bullish faster than positioning among crypto-native traders, creating room for underexposed market participants to chase the rally.

The move above $84,000 appears to have drawn support from renewed exchange-traded fund demand and a large short squeeze, according to Sondergaard. However, Hyperliquid’s largest Bitcoin traders were still net short, suggesting that some major market participants had not fully accepted the recovery.

Onchain exchange flows offered another sign of caution. Nansen recorded more Bitcoin moving onto exchanges than leaving them over the past two days, a pattern that can raise the amount of BTC available for sale.

“Bitcoin’s move above $84,000 looks less like a clean macro-driven accumulation event and more like a combination of renewed ETF demand and a large short squeeze,” Sondergaard said. “The important distinction is that price has turned bullish faster than positioning has.”

Under-positioned traders may have to buy Bitcoin if the advance continues, adding fuel to the rally. Sondergaard warned, however, that the move would remain exposed to a reversal if ETF inflows weaken or U.S. Treasury yields climb again.

Bitcoin spot demand must confirm the $85K breakout

Spot-market signals have strengthened alongside Bitcoin’s advance, giving the latest rally more support than a move driven mainly by perpetual futures.

ViaBTC Chief Analyst Jeff Ko said the Coinbase premium returned to positive territory on Friday, indicating that Bitcoin traded at a higher price on the U.S. exchange than on offshore platforms. Analysts often use the premium to assess buying interest from American investors and institutions.

At the same time, USDT/USD rose from 0.9991 to 0.9998 over the weekend. Ko viewed the move toward the stablecoin’s dollar peg as another sign of genuine demand rather than a rally sustained only by borrowed money.

Friday’s rebound followed two major setbacks earlier in the week. The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 3.75%–4%, while the U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act. Bitcoin initially fell into the mid-$75,000 range before recovering.

As previously covered by crypto.news, all 12 voting Federal Open Market Committee members supported the rate increase, while 16 of 18 officials projected at least one more hike during 2026. Bitcoin briefly approached $76,000 after the decision as Treasury yields and the dollar remained firm.

The market had also faced heavy ETF withdrawals. U.S. spot Bitcoin funds lost about $746.3 million across Sep. 15 and Sep. 16 before attracting $159.5 million on Sep. 17 and roughly $433 million on Sep. 18. Friday’s inflows included $310.7 million for Fidelity’s FBTC and $108.4 million for BlackRock’s IBIT.

Across the full five-session period, the funds recorded about $6.2 million in net inflows, showing that late-week demand nearly erased the earlier withdrawals. Ko said sustained ETF demand now matters more than the excitement created by the initial breakout.

Bitcoin faces its next test at $87K

After Bitcoin cleared and held $85,000, Sondergaard identified $87,000 as the next level to monitor. A break above that area would bring the psychological $90,000 level into view, followed by possible resistance around $92,000.

“The next level to look for would be $87k, given $85k is broken and held, then $90k would be psychological and again some levels to look for around $92k,” Sondergaard said.

Any move through the three levels will depend on continued spot buying and the absence of another sharp macro shock, according to the analyst. Without spot and ETF follow-through, Sondergaard said the advance could become another move led mainly by perpetual futures, leaving Bitcoin more exposed to sell-offs and geopolitical events.

Earlier technical conditions had already started turning in favor of buyers. During Friday’s rally, Bitcoin rebounded toward $81,300 after reclaiming its True Market Mean near $76,660. More than $250 million in short positions were liquidated over 24 hours as BTC crossed $78,000 and $80,000.

The 4-hour Supertrend flipped bullish near $78,677, while the daily Relative Strength Index rose to 64.48. Bitcoin also moved above the middle line of its daily Bollinger Bands before testing the upper band, according to the Sep. 19 technical report.

Ko had identified $80,000 as the main pivot before Bitcoin’s latest leg higher, with $82,000 acting as the resistance level that buyers needed to clear. Price has since moved beyond both zones, turning them into areas traders may watch during a pullback.

Holding above the former resistance areas without a steep rise in leverage would offer a stronger structure than a fast move powered by futures positions, according to Ko. Sondergaard’s exchange-flow data still leaves a risk that BTC deposited on trading platforms could return to the market if momentum weakens.

Treasury yields and oil remain risks for Bitcoin

The macro setting remains difficult despite Bitcoin’s recovery. Ko pointed to a U.S. 10-year Treasury yield near 5%, a firm dollar and oil prices above $100, although crude had eased from the previous week’s spike.

Higher bond yields can raise the return available from traditional fixed-income assets, while a stronger dollar can place pressure on assets priced in the U.S. currency. Expensive oil may also keep inflation concerns active as Federal Reserve officials consider whether another rate increase is needed.

The Fed’s September hike followed a sharp rise in market expectations after attacks on Saudi infrastructure pushed oil about 11% higher over five days. A preview of the Fed decision noted that the institutional structure of the crypto market now differs from earlier tightening cycles because U.S. spot ETFs and corporate Bitcoin holdings have increased conventional market exposure.

Bitcoin absorbed the rate increase and the failed CLARITY vote before rallying on Friday, which Ko cited as evidence of resilience. Still, he expects rates, oil and Fed communication to drive trading during a relatively light week for major U.S. economic releases.

Flash U.S. purchasing managers’ indexes are scheduled for Wednesday, followed by jobless claims and new-home sales on Thursday. Several Fed officials are also due to speak, giving investors further clues about whether policymakers support a second increase during 2026.

Friday’s quarter-end options expiry could add short-term volatility as traders settle contracts or adjust hedges. Ko said ETF flows remain the more important signal because persistent fund demand would show that U.S. investors are supporting the rally beyond the derivatives market.

ETH/BTC must rise before altcoin demand improves

Outside Bitcoin, Nansen has detected selective demand for higher-risk areas such as lending, yield and real-world asset tokens. Sondergaard described the activity as a tactical risk-on rebound rather than the start of a confirmed accumulation cycle across altcoins.

Ko said Ether’s performance against Bitcoin carries more value than its dollar price when judging whether demand is spreading through the market. The ETH/BTC ratio has remained in the low 0.03 range, limiting Ether’s relative appeal while Bitcoin continues to lead.

A convincing rise in ETH/BTC, combined with sustained positive Ether ETF flows, would indicate that investors are becoming more willing to take risk beyond Bitcoin, according to Ko. Until both signals appear, Ether’s dollar gains may largely follow Bitcoin rather than show independent strength.