Coinbase restarts stablecoin guidance fund! Investing in Aave, Morpho, Kamino, Jupiter to promote USDC/EURC DeFi liquidity | Stablecoin competition intensifies

Coinbase announced on August 12 that it will restart its stablecoin bootstrap fund ( Stablecoin Bootstrap Fund ), injecting funds into the Decentralized Finance ( DeFi ) ecosystem for the first time in four years, aiming to significantly enhance the on-chain liquidity of its issued USD stablecoin USDC and EUR stablecoin EURC. The first round of funding will be directed towards Aave and Morpho on Ethereum to optimize lending efficiency, as well as Kamino and Jupiter ( JUP ) in the Solana ( SOL ) ecosystem to expand trading and liquidity routing. This move comes at a time when the total value locked ( TVL ) in DeFi is nearing $160 billion, and as stablecoin regulations are becoming clearer, Coinbase aims to establish USDC (with an annual on-chain settlement volume of $2.7 trillion) as a multi-chain core settlement tool.

After four years, the fund is restarted, Coinbase increases liquidity for DeFi stablecoins Coinbase announced on August 12 that it is restarting its Stablecoin Bootstrap Fund ( for the first major action in over four years. This move signifies that Coinbase is revitalizing its strategy to drive stablecoin adoption in the on-chain market by injecting capital into the DeFi ecosystem, significantly enhancing the liquidity of its issued USDC (USD stablecoin) and EURC (Euro stablecoin).

First Round Deployment Exposed: Ethereum Lending Protocol + Solana Trading Ecosystem The initial liquidity deployment of the fund will focus on the core protocols of two key blockchain ecosystems:

• Ethereum Ecosystem: Funds will be injected into top lending protocols Aave and capital efficiency optimization protocol Morpho, aiming to stabilize the lending liquidity pool and improve borrowing efficiency.
• Solana)SOL( Ecosystem: Funds will support lending and liquidity optimization protocol Kamino and leading aggregator and trading platform Jupiter)JUP(, to expand token exchange depth and optimize liquidity routing paths.

Aiming for efficient trading and early projects, the USDC on-chain ecosystem continues to expand Currently, USDC supports a total lock-up value of approximately $8.9 billion )TVL(, and processes on-chain settlement volumes of up to $2.7 trillion annually across networks including Ethereum, Base, Solana)SOL(, Sui)SUI(. Coinbase is committed to achieving three main goals by providing initial liquidity seeds for these protocols:

1. Improve trading efficiency and reduce slippage.
2. Support the development of mature protocols and emerging teams.
3. Provide the liquidity foundation required for pre-release and early-stage projects to launch (the project is explicitly open to such projects).

Strategic Opportunities in the Competitive Landscape: Replicating the Successful Path of 2019, Aiming for a Multi-Chain Settlement Future The restart of this fund is a continuation of the successful strategy from 2019. That year, Coinbase effectively promoted the early adoption of USDC in the DeFi space by injecting liquidity into protocols such as Uniswap)UNI(, Compound, dYdX. Today, the DeFi market that funds are returning to is vastly different from before:

• Total TVL is close to 160 billion USD.
• Tether)USDT( dominates the stablecoin market capitalization.

Coinbase has identified a key opportunity: by deeply integrating USDC and EURC into high-volume protocols, it can drive their entry into more active use cases. The company will dynamically expand the fund coverage based on the performance of the initial projects, with the long-term vision of establishing stablecoins as a reliable settlement tool across multiple blockchains.

Timing and Location: DeFi Growth and Regulatory Clarity Proceeding in Parallel The current restart of the liquidity promotion plan can be said to be at a favorable time:

• Decentralized Finance trading volume continues to grow.
• The regulatory framework for stablecoins is becoming increasingly clear across multiple jurisdictions (such as the U.S. "GENIUS Act" mentioned earlier).

Core Challenge: Market Share Growth Depends on Three Key Factors However, whether this capital injection can significantly increase the market share of USDC/EURC will mainly depend on:

1. Developer Adoption Rate: Whether the project is willing to integrate deeply.
2. Sustained Incentive Measures: Can long-term attractiveness be maintained.
3. Integration Speed of Protocols: The efficiency of DeFi protocols in incorporating them into the core market.

Conclusion: Coinbase's relaunch of the stablecoin guidance fund is a crucial move to strengthen the position of USDC/EURC in the fiercely competitive stablecoin market. By strategically injecting liquidity into leading protocols on Ethereum and Solana (Aave, Morpho, Kamino, Jupiter), the initiative aims not only to address immediate transaction efficiency issues but also to lay the groundwork for early projects and replicate the successful path that facilitated the rise of USDC in 2019. In the context of the expansion of DeFi (with a TVL of $160 billion) and the increasingly clear global stablecoin regulatory landscape, this move is expected to accelerate the evolution of USDC (with an annual settlement of $2.7 trillion) towards a multi-chain core settlement infrastructure. However, the ultimate effectiveness will still depend on the widespread adoption by ecosystem developers, the continuous and effective design of incentives, and the execution speed of protocol integration.