Maple Finance, a leading cryptocurrency lending platform managing over $1.8 billion in assets, has announced a strategic partnership with Lido Finance, the well-known crypto staking provider. This collaboration opens up new avenues for institutional investors by offering stablecoin credit lines secured by Lido’s liquid staking token, stETH.
This innovative partnership allows institutions to borrow stablecoins without the hassle of unwinding their staked ETH positions. Borrowers can use stETH—Lido’s liquid version of staked ETH—as collateral for credit lines underwritten by Maple’s dedicated credit team. Since stETH continues to earn staking rewards while remaining liquid and functional in decentralized finance (DeFi), this setup offers a flexible way to access liquidity without sacrificing staking benefits.
Restaking—the concept of using blockchain-secured assets to back multiple applications—has quickly gained traction as a new investment trend in the crypto space. Lido, a prominent player in Ethereum staking, continues to forge strategic partnerships to enhance the visibility and utility of its liquid staking token, stETH.
According to Sid Powell, CEO and Co-Founder of Maple Finance, this partnership responds to a rising demand from institutional clients already leveraging stETH in their capital management strategies. Powell explains, “By enabling loans backed by stETH, we’re simplifying liquidity access for institutions while allowing them to keep their assets staked and productive.”
The stablecoin credit lines cater to a variety of institutional use cases, including extending treasury runway, implementing conservative leverage trading, and securing short-term working capital. This development marks a significant step forward in integrating staking assets into broader capital strategies, making DeFi more accessible for traditional and institutional investors alike.
