The new offering enables institutions to borrow stablecoins without selling their staked ETH.
Maple Finance, an onchain asset manager overseeing more than $2.2 billion, has partnered with Lido Finance to provide stablecoin credit lines backed by staked Ether (stETH) collateral. Lido is the largest liquid staking protocol, with nearly $25 billion in total value locked (TVL).
stETH is a token issued by Lido that represents Ethereum (ETH) locked in Ethereum’s staking system, where it earns rewards. With this new initiative, institutional borrowers can now get liquidity without selling their stETH – letting them keep their investment and continue earning ETH staking rewards, according to a press release viewed by The Defiant. Borrowers will also be able to use stETH as collateral for loans approved by Maple’s credit team.
The move reflects a growing trend in decentralized finance (DeFi) that enables institutions to access liquidity without sacrificing yield opportunities.
“This partnership formalizes a growing demand from institutions already using stETH in their capital strategies,” said Sid Powell, CEO and Co-Founder of Maple. “By enabling loans backed by stETH, we’re making it easier for institutions to access liquidity while keeping their core assets staked and productive.”
The announcement comes as staked Ether reached a new all-time high earlier this week. More than 34.6 million ETH – worth nearly $90 billion – is now locked in Ethereum’s proof-of-stake (PoS) system. That accounts for nearly 28% of the total ETH supply, which stands at approximately 120.72 million.
Amir Forouzani, co-founder of Puffer Labs, told The Defiant earlier this week that Ethereum’s recent staking surge is being driven by the rise of liquid staking and growing institutional participation. Liquid staking, as a whole, currently boasts a TVL of $51.3 billion, up 55% from the beginning of the year.
Maple has also recorded major growth this year. Its TVL jumped from $513 million at the beginning of the year to $2.45 billion currently, according to DeFiLlama data. At the time of writing, Maple’s native token, SYRUP, is changing hands at $0.49, up 31% over the past week and 87% over the past month, according to CoinGecko.
