Base enables USDC deposits on Aave mobile app

Aave has switched on USDC deposits from Base inside its mobile app, marking a quiet but meaningful step in the protocol’s push to bring decentralized lending to a phone screen near you. The feature is live now, and it lands on top of a Base market that has already accumulated somewhere between $178 million and $182 million in USDC deposits. Aave’s V3 market on Base has been running since 2023, quietly processing loans and earning yield for depositors without most retail investors ever noticing. The current utilization rate on that market sits at roughly 89 to 90 percent, which is a finance way of saying almost every dollar deposited is already being borrowed by someone else. High utilization is a double-edged situation. Lenders love it because it pushes yields up. Borrowers feel it in their cost of capital, with current borrow rates on the V3 market sitting around 4.6%. For depositors, the Aave app is advertising USDC and USDT yields in the 3% to 6.5% range depending on where market conditions land on any given day. The iOS app entered early access in August 2026. A full public launch is on the calendar for later this year. The early access phase has functioned as a live beta, lett...