Crypto Lender Maple Partners with Liquid Staking Specialist Lido Finance

Cryptocurrency lending firm Maple Finance has partnered with crypto staking specialist Lido Finance to offer stablecoin credit lines backed by collateral in the form of Lido’s liquid staking token (stETH), the companies said on Thursday.

The collaboration gives institutions the ability to borrow stablecoins without having to unwind their staked ETH positions. Borrowers can use stETH as collateral for credit lines underwritten by Maple’s in-house credit team, according to a press release. Lido’s stETH is a liquid version of staked ETH that can be put to work in decentralized finance (DeFi), while still earning rewards from staking.

Restaking – the idea of using a blockchain to secure other apps – has quickly become a new investment trend in crypto. Lido, an Ethereum staking stalwart, has been busy forging partnerships to bring return Lido’s stETH to center stage.

Maple, with over $1.8 billion of assets on its platform, has been on a tear of late, working with Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald to do bitcoin-backed loans.

“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 offering serves a range of institutional use cases including treasury runway extension, conservative leverage trading, and short-term working capital, according to a press release.