{"id":419455,"date":"2026-02-12T08:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T02:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/lombard-launches-smart-accounts-to-connect-institutional-bitcoin-to-defi-crypto-news\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T08:17:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T02:47:28","slug":"lombard-launches-smart-accounts-to-connect-institutional-bitcoin-to-defi-crypto-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/lombard-launches-smart-accounts-to-connect-institutional-bitcoin-to-defi-crypto-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Lombard Launches Smart Accounts to Connect Institutional Bitcoin to DeFi – Crypto News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new system lets institutions earn yield and access liquidity without moving Bitcoin out of custody.<\/p>\n

\n

Lombard<\/a> on Wed., Feb. 11, launched Bitcoin Smart Accounts, a new product that allows institutions to use their Bitcoin in decentralized finance (DeFi) without moving it out of custody.<\/p>\n

Lombard is a DeFi protocol with more than $1 billion in total value locked (TVL), according to DeFiLlama. The new product allows Bitcoin<\/a> held with custodians, in MPC setups, or in self-custody wallets to be used as on-chain collateral, according to a press release viewed by The Defiant.<\/p>\n

The process eliminates the need to transfer Bitcoin to a DeFi platform first, allowing institutions to keep their BTC in their existing custody arrangements. Bitcoin is currently trading at $67,615, down 1.5% on the day, per CoinGecko. <\/p>\n

The product targets roughly $500 billion in Bitcoin that is currently held in professional custody by asset managers, corporations and high-net-worth individuals. Most of that Bitcoin does not currently participate in DeFi because transferring assets can create legal, operational or security risks.<\/p>\n

“For 17 years, institutions could have the security of top custodians, or they could have on-chain utility \u2014 never both,” said Jacob Phillips, co-founder of Lombard. “Bitcoin Smart Accounts are a settlement network, similar to that of SWIFT and ACH, that eliminate that trade-off, and allow Bitcoin to stay in custody and settle on-chain, transforming Bitcoin from a passive asset into usable capital.”<\/p>\n

How it Works<\/h2>\n

Institutions begin by adding a Smart Account designation to their existing custody setup, according to Lombard. Their Bitcoin is then recognized on-chain through a receipt token called BTC.b, which represents the held BTC.<\/p>\n

The underlying Bitcoin remains with the custodian at all times, the company said, and legal ownership does not change. <\/p>\n

Furthermore, the product will launch with Morpho<\/a>, a lending protocol with more than $5.7 billion in TVL (and the seventh-largest protocol by TVL), according to DeFiLlama. Through the integration, Bitcoin held in custody can be used as collateral in Morpho\u2019s lending markets.<\/p>\n

This allows institutions to borrow against their BTC or potentially earn yield without transferring the underlying assets out of custody.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new system lets institutions earn yield and access liquidity without moving Bitcoin out of custody. Lombard on Wed., Feb. 11, launched Bitcoin Smart Accounts, a new product that allows institutions to use their Bitcoin in decentralized finance (DeFi) without moving it out of custody. Lombard is a DeFi protocol with more than $1 billion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[274,273,272,244,266,271,268,270,269,267],"class_list":["post-419455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-de-fi","tag-crypto-finance","tag-decentralized-finance","tag-liquidity","tag-metamask","tag-pancake","tag-slippage","tag-sushiswap","tag-tronlink","tag-trust-wallet","tag-uniswap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":419457,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419455\/revisions\/419457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}