Morpho launches fixed-rate lending protocol on Base

Lending protocol Morpho has launched Morpho Midnight on Base, adding fixed-rate, fixed-term loans to its onchain credit network alongside the variable-rate markets offered through Morpho Blue.

In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph, Morpho said the offer-driven protocol lets lenders and borrowers propose their own interest rates, maturities and other loan terms instead of relying on a protocol-defined utilization curve. Loans are issued as fixed obligations, with terms set through competing offers rather than algorithmic pool pricing.

Predictable rates and defined maturities are standard features of traditional credit markets. However, they remain uncommon in decentralized finance (DeFi), where borrowing costs generally fluctuate based on market utilization. Fixed terms could make onchain lending more attractive to institutions and businesses that need to manage funding costs, returns and risk exposure in advance.

A Morpho spokesperson told Cointelegraph that Midnight is live on the Base mainnet, initially supporting cbBTC and $USDC across multiple maturity dates. The spokesperson said Morpho deliberately kept the launch contained as part of a progressive rollout that prioritizes security.

The spokesperson said crypto-native lenders, borrowers and curators already active on Morpho Blue had shown interest in Midnight. Several unnamed enterprises and institutions are also building products on the protocol in beta, with announcements expected as those products go live.

Morpho’s fixed-rate lending plans take shape

Morpho first outlined the fixed-rate system in 2025 under a broader “Morpho V2” roadmap. It described an intent-based, peer-to-peer marketplace where users could submit custom offers, price loans through market demand and keep capital earning variable yield until a fixed-rate offer was matched.

In April, Morpho named the fixed-rate protocol Midnight and clarified that it was not a replacement for Morpho Blue. While Blue provides open-ended, variable-rate lending pools, Midnight externalizes loan risk, interest rate and duration to market participants.

The protocol then released Midnight’s whitepaper and codebase in May, saying that its “offered capital” model was intended to avoid a recurring problem for fixed-rate DeFi protocols: liquidity being locked or fragmentation across maturity dates.

Midnight’s launch follows Morpho’s $175 million funding round in June, led by Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto and Ribbit Capital. At the time, Morpho said it planned to expand integrations with banks, asset managers and large platforms while adding features associated with traditional credit markets.

Morpho’s infrastructure already underpins variable-rate lending products distributed through major crypto platforms. In April, Coinbase launched Morpho-powered $USDC loans for United Kingdom users, allowing them to borrow against Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and cbETH on Base.

The loans carried variable rates and no fixed repayment schedule, illustrating the open-ended borrowing model that Midnight intends to complement.