Aave V4 on Base adds Coinbase tokenized stocks as collateral for USDC loans

Coinbase’s tokenized stocks can now be used as collateral for USDC loans on Aave V4 on Base, bringing seven U.S. equities into the decentralized lending protocol’s collateral markets.

The Equities Hub launched Friday with Coinbase-issued tokenized stocks tracking Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, according to a statement shared with The Block. The seven assets are available to eligible non-U.S. users in permitted jurisdictions.

Aave said users can deposit the tokenized stocks and borrow USDC against them. The equities are collateral-only at launch, with Chainlink providing onchain pricing through its tokenized equity feeds.

“Public equities are one of the largest pools of capital in the world, and tokenization is starting to bring that capital onchain,” Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave Labs, said in the announcement.

“Until now a tokenized stock was something you could hold or trade. Today it becomes something you can borrow against,” Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave Labs, told The Block.

The market launches with an initial collateral cap of roughly $29 million across the seven stocks, a $32 million USDC supply cap and a $21 million USDC borrow cap, according to Aave’s risk provider LlamaRisk. Collateral factors range from 65% to 79%, depending on the stock.

Aave pushes beyond crypto assets

The launch comes as Kulechov has been outlining a broader push into tokenized stocks, securities, and other real-world assets. In a recent interview with The Block, he said institutions "come with size" and could drive demand for onchain borrowing.

Kulechov also said the technology behind tokenization is no longer the main obstacle for the sector. “Tokenization and DeFi are not a technological challenge anymore,” he said. “I think it's a go-to-market challenge.”

His comments came a day after the Senate voted 49-50 against advancing the Clarity Act. Kulechov said DeFi may need to follow an “Uber path” by reaching enough users that lawmakers are forced to address how the sector should be regulated.

“But if that doesn’t obviously happen, I think the ultimate goal is to really use this technology and empower millions of people around the world,” he said.

Equities pooled into one USDC market

Aave said the Equities Hub uses its Hub and Spoke architecture to pool the equity collateral into a single market with one USDC reserve. Risk parameters are set separately for each asset, while issues affecting one equity are isolated from the others.

The market operates around the clock, according to the statement. Additional Coinbase tokenized stocks could be added over time, along with GHO as a borrowable asset, subject to governance and risk review.

“Aave's adoption of Coinbase’s Tokenized Stocks powered by Chainlink as official oracle solution marks a major step toward bringing the $150+ trillion global equities market onchain,” Chainlink Chief Business Officer Johann Eid said.

Base Head of Growth Antonio García-Martínez said eligible customers outside the U.S. can use the stocks to borrow USDC, while USDC suppliers can earn interest.

Aave said it has processed $3.6 trillion in cumulative deposits and more than $1 trillion in all-time loans.