[Circle Mint Launches Digital Asset Collateralized Lending Feature, Supporting Bitcoin-Backed USDC Loans] Circle announced the launch of its digital asset collateralized lending feature on the Arc and Ethereum networks, available to eligible institutional clients of Circle Mint. Clients can deposit Bitcoin and mint cirBTC as collateral, with the borrowed USDC directly settled into their Circle Mint account balance, eliminating the need to sell Bitcoin. The product adopts an over-collateralization design, with cirBTC backed 1:1 by native Bitcoin, and the underlying assets are held in custody by Circle National Trust. The first integrated protocol is Morpho, with future support planned for protocols like Aave. This service is provided by Circle Technology Services and is not currently available to clients in New York State.