Coinbase Launches High Yield USDC Vault with Ethena

Coinbase launched a High Yield USDC lending vault Thursday in collaboration with Ethena, expanding its Morpho-powered savings integration with a second vault option curated by Steakhouse Financial.

What's the Scoop?

• The Product: The High Yield USDC Vault is live on Coinbase for users in the U.S. (excluding New York) and select international markets. Deposits are lent to borrowers who put up higher-risk collateral, including Ethena-linked assets, creating the potential for higher market-based yields.
• How It Works: The vault runs through Morpho, the DeFi lending protocol, allocating deposits users across lending markets to optimize returns. Steakhouse Financial curates the strategy with funds withdrawable at any time, as long as liquidity permits.
• Two-Vault Structure: The High Yield option joins the existing Core USDC vault, which lends against blue-chip collateral like BTC and ETH. Coinbase originally launched the Morpho integration in September 2025 with the Core vault, where yields have reached up to 10.8%. The new High Yield vault sits one rung higher on the risk spectrum by accepting more volatile collateral types.
• The Coinbase Connection: The launch comes shortly after Coinbase Ventures bought ENA, Ethena’s governance token, on the open market, its first disclosed investment in the protocol, though the amount of ENA purchased was not disclosed. They're now working together to expand product offerings (obviously) and also to increase Ethena's security.