Aave, the largest lending protocol in DeFi, has opened its Equities Hub on Base. The hub runs on Aave V4 and launched in September 2026. It lets eligible investors outside the US borrow USDC against Coinbase tokenized stocks without selling any of their shares.
Seven tokenized US stocks are accepted as collateral at launch. Borrowing, repaying and withdrawing are open 24/7. Aave says more than $1 trillion in loans have been originated on the protocol since 2020.
How the loans work
Selling stock to raise cash means giving up an asset you expected to grow. In traditional finance, shareholders can borrow against their holdings instead, but brokers and private banks arrange those loans on private terms, and only for clients who meet their minimums.
Aave runs this as an open market. Borrowers deposit tokenized stocks as collateral, take out USDC within the market’s limits and repay whenever they choose. The terms are public, so borrowers can see the risks before they commit and lenders can check what backs their loans.
Why it is on Base
Coinbase issues its tokenized stocks on Base, and they are backed by shares held in a regulated trust for token holders. Aave said that link to the underlying asset mattered, since its approach centers on users keeping control of their holdings.
A lending market also needs someone to buy its collateral. If a position becomes undercollateralized, liquidators have to be able to sell enough of the pledged assets to cover the debt. Coinbase tokenized stocks already trade on onchain exchanges such as Aerodrome, and Aave says it will review its lending limits as token supply and trading depth grow. Native USDC on Base provides the borrowing currency, and low transaction fees cut the cost of managing a loan.
“Partnering with Base and doing it on Base is the right approach to create global markets for stock-backed lending,” said Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave. “It’s a pathway to get all stocks onchain and make them as productive as possible.”
What changes
The hub brings onchain lending to investors whose wealth is in public companies instead of crypto, and it adds new borrowing demand for people supplying USDC. As more stocks become usable as collateral, developers can build services for investors that traditional lenders have not reached.
Aave is an independent protocol and is not affiliated with Coinbase. The tokenized stocks involved are not available in the US, and the figures above are reported by Aave and third-party dashboards and may change.
