HSK Chain, the institutional-grade public blockchain under HashKey (3887.HK), said on July 28 that it has formed a strategic partnership with Morpho, the decentralized non-custodial lending protocol and open credit network. Under the agreement, Morpho will complete a full-chain deployment on HSK Chain and become the official partner for HSK Chain’s on-chain lending business.
The companies said they will jointly develop on-chain lending products for institutional and retail users, drawing on their respective strengths in lending infrastructure and on-chain financial innovation. The partnership will cover multiple HashKey Group business lines and will also extend to integration scenarios tied to HashKey’s upcoming crypto wallet and super app.
HashKey Capital also made a strategic investment in Morpho
Alongside the commercial partnership, HashKey Capital, the institutional asset management platform within HashKey Group, has made a strategic investment in Morpho.
According to the Capital team, DeFi lending is at a turning point as it shifts toward institutional-grade infrastructure. The team said Morpho’s architecture separates the base lending protocol from risk management, a design it believes improves capital efficiency while maintaining a high level of security. It also said that, with participation from major institutions including Coinbase and Apollo, and with the launch of the fixed-rate product Morpho Midnight, Morpho has developed from an on-chain lending protocol into what it described as a core settlement layer linking traditional finance and on-chain credit, with the capacity to support migration from traditional private credit markets onto blockchain rails.
The partnership will focus on lending, staking-related yield products and RWA tokenization
On the institutional lending side, HSK Chain and Morpho said they will work in the CeDeFi segment, using on-chain lending as the entry point while exploring ways to bridge liquidity barriers between CeFi and DeFi.
For on-chain staking services, the two sides plan to develop yield products centered on a prudent risk management framework, with BTC and real-world assets, or RWA, used as underlying collateral in lending activity. They also said they will explore integrating Morpho v2 fixed-rate lending products so users of HashKey staking services can access on-chain credit more easily.
The announcement added a note stating that staking refers to node validation or infrastructure services and does not constitute an investment or financial product.
On tokenization, HSK Chain and Morpho said they plan to bring more institutional-grade assets into the Morpho protocol as eligible collateral, widening the set of assets available across the on-chain lending ecosystem. The two sides also said they will use demand signals from HashKey’s institutional client base to screen and prioritize the first batch of RWA assets for introduction.
Compliance and protocol transparency are central to the deal
In the announcement, HashKey said companies under the group hold multiple digital asset service licenses in Asia and described itself as one of the few institutions in the Asia-Pacific region able to provide institutional-grade digital asset services under a comprehensive compliance framework. Morpho was described as a leading decentralized lending protocol globally, having processed on-chain lending transactions totaling billions of dollars, with a modular risk management structure and transparent smart contract logic.
The two companies said the partnership combines compliant financial infrastructure with top-tier DeFi protocol capabilities and is intended to deliver safe, transparent and auditable on-chain lending services for both institutional and retail users.
Serena Wang, head of HSK Eco Labs, said: “On-chain lending is key infrastructure connecting traditional finance and the Web3 ecosystem. Our partnership with Morpho allows us to provide true on-chain lending services to both institutional and retail users. HashKey has always been committed to driving broader adoption of on-chain finance within a compliant framework, and this partnership is an important step in that direction.”
Shanshan Shui, Morpho’s head of Asia, said: “HashKey’s rare compliance credentials in Asia and its deep institutional client resources make it an ideal partner for Morpho as we expand in Asia and build a global open lending network. We will deploy our globally tested decentralized lending protocol on HSK Chain, relying on a layered architecture to preserve protocol openness while exploring local compliance requirements together. Our aim is to build safe and efficient on-chain lending services in Hong Kong and across Asia, while advancing work in RWA and compliant CeDeFi and exploring more development opportunities in on-chain finance.”
Background on HSK Chain and Morpho
HSK Chain is an institutional-grade blockchain under HashKey and is positioned as infrastructure for rebuilding global financial markets on-chain. The project says it is designed to support stablecoins, real-world assets and institutional DeFi in a single operating system.
Morpho describes itself as an open lending network with more than $11 billion in deposits. According to the company, its modular and open infrastructure allows fintech firms, wallets, exchanges and institutions to embed configurable credit products directly into their own platforms while retaining control over user experience. It said institutions including Coinbase, Robinhood, Bitwise Asset Management and Societe Generale have already launched on-chain credit products using Morpho.
Risk disclosure included in the announcement
HSK Chain said the announcement is intended only to introduce the partnership with Morpho and the ecosystem directions related to it, and does not constitute investment advice, an investment offer, solicitation, recommendation or guarantee.
It also said HSK Chain, as a blockchain infrastructure network, does not make any express or implied representation regarding the performance, security, availability or compliance of any third-party protocol, product or service. Users considering participation in on-chain activities, DeFi, CeDeFi, RWA or other digital asset businesses were advised to understand the relevant risks fully and make independent judgments and decisions.