Circle launches cirBTC on Arc as Morpho logs $150M first-day lending deposits
By Crypto Wire
September 21, 2026
Circle launched cirBTC, a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed wrapped token, on the Arc mainnet on September 21, five days after Arc’s public debut, according to a Cryptonomist wrap of the rollout. The product is issued by Circle International Bermuda Limited under Bermuda Monetary Authority supervision, with real-time proof of reserves verified on-chain through Chainlink. The pitch is institutional Bitcoin collateral inside a chain built for regulated corporate finance rather than another unattested wrapped-BTC clone.
Early DeFi demand showed up in lending, not spot. Morpho reported more than $150 million in first-day deposits into USDC and EURC vaults using cirBTC as collateral, while Aave V4 opened matching cirBTC, USDC, and EURC markets on Arc nearly simultaneously, the wrap said. Those figures measure lending-side deposits against the new collateral, not a claim that $150 million of cirBTC was minted in a day.
Supply snapshots dated September 19–20 put circulating cirBTC near 949 tokens, worth roughly $77 million, against reserves of about 951 BTC, with a few hundred of those tokens already living on Arc and the rest still on Ethereum. Desks should treat that pre-launch snapshot as a starting inventory print, then track whether Arc-side supply and Morpho/Aave deposits stay aligned as institutions mint through Circle Mint.
On access, Cryptonomist says users can convert BTC, cbBTC, or wBTC into cirBTC with no fees on select flows via Arc’s swap and bridge portal or Circle Mint for institutional participants. Circle Mint also extends a Digital Asset-Backed Borrowing option for qualifying institutions, folding Bitcoin collateral into the same plumbing that already underpins USDC and EURC on Arc. Arc uses USDC as gas and primary settlement, so cirBTC sits inside a stablecoin-native Layer 1 rather than an ETH-gas environment.
For Real-World Utility desks, Monday’s launch sits beside Europe’s Pontes rail and Korea’s Eugene/BEATOZ stablecoin STO PoC without repeating those settlement stories. cirBTC answers a different question: can Bitcoin stay BTC economically while becoming borrowable collateral on a Circle-regulated Arc stack that Visa, Mastercard, and BlackRock already joined as early Arc validators in prior coverage of the chain’s debut.
NFT floors and Courtyard vault tapes still measure collector secondary liquidity. cirBTC measures whether Wall Street-facing Bitcoin can earn yield inside DeFi without a forced sale into dollars first. That distinction keeps the piece on the RWA desk even when Orange County’s NFT sales week prints near $37.54 million on CryptoSlam, and it explains why a wrapped-BTC launch belongs in the same OC news cycle as marketplace and GameFi desks without crowding their categories.
Nothing in the secondary wrap confirms long-run share versus incumbent wrapped BTC, fee schedules beyond select conversion flows, or how Morpho’s $150 million first-day deposit figure will age after the launch window. Readers should treat Monday’s print as a regulated issuance plus an early lending reaction. Primary sourcing for the Arc launch date, Bermuda issuer wrapper, Chainlink PoR, Morpho and Aave integrations, and supply/reserve snapshot is the September 21 Cryptonomist report. Verify operational claims against Circle’s official Arc and Mint documentation before treating wrap language as final.
Circle first floated cirBTC plans in April 2026 as an alternative to older wrapped Bitcoin products already circulating in DeFi. The compliance pitch — segregated custody language, Bermuda regulation, and continuous Chainlink attestation — is what the Morpho and Aave day-one markets are testing in public. A single day of deposits is a start, not a verdict on where institutional Bitcoin collateral ultimately settles across Arc, Ethereum, and incumbent wrappers.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or trading advice. The NFT market is highly volatile, and past performance is not indicative of future results. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions related to digital assets. The cover image for this article may have been created using artificial intelligence (AI).
