Morpho deposits on Circle's Arc exceed $500M as Bitcoin-backed loans dominate
Morpho (MORPHO)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
Cryptobriefing.com reports that Morpho has attracted over $500 million in deposits on Circle’s Arc network within just over two weeks of launch. The lending protocol went live on September 16, 2026, alongside Arc’s public mainnet, drawing primarily institutional capital into Bitcoin-backed USDC loans. Initial deposits on launch day ranged between $150 million and $220 million, concentrated in Circle’s USDC and EURC markets.
By October 2, 2026, total deposits reached $500.27 million, with outstanding loans standing at $189.93 million. Activity is heavily skewed toward the cirBTC/USDC market, which accounts for approximately 86% of lending and borrowing. This market operates at near-full utilization, meaning nearly all supplied USDC is already borrowed.
The influx is driven by institutional lenders rather than individual yield-chasers, utilizing curated vaults from firms like Steakhouse Financial and Bitwise. Top vaults from Galaxy and Keyrock are yielding about 0.80% net APY, reflecting a user base that values structure over headline yield. Arc, backed by validators including BlackRock and Visa, aims to own more of the stablecoin payment stack. While Arc’s deposits represent roughly 3% of Morpho’s broader $16.54 billion network total, the Bitcoin-collateral focus is currently defining its lending narrative.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for MORPHO, measured when this story was written up on 2 October 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Morpho is trading at $2.58 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 51.0%, indicating a slight edge for buyers over sellers. Short-term momentum shows a 1-hour buy ratio of 55.6% against a 4-hour ratio of 49.7%, suggesting buying pressure is building in the immediate term but fading over the four-hour window. The 1-hour volume delta is positive at $17,959, while the 4-hour delta is negative at -$8,142, reflecting this shift in short-term sentiment. Over the full day, the volume delta is +$98,140, and cumulative volume delta (CVD) closed at +$141,682. This means that, on balance, buyers have absorbed more sell-side liquidity than sellers have absorbed buy-side liquidity over the last day. Spot volume reached $4,938,891 with 55,427 trades, and net buying occurred in 14 of the last 24 hours.
The latest daily buy ratio of 49.7% sits at the 38th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 51.0% - ordinary for this coin.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for MORPHO, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Compared to the preceding week, today’s 24-hour buy ratio of 51.0% is 1.0 percentage point lower than the 7-day average of 51.9%. Volume today is also subdued, trading at 0.75 times the weekly average. Despite the lower volume and slightly reduced buy ratio, the coin has seen net buying in 6 of the last 7 days, with a total volume delta of +$1,737,265 over that period. The price has declined 8.3% over the eight-day window, contrasting with the recent net buying flow. This suggests that while buying pressure persists, it has not been sufficient to prevent a broader price decline over the week.