KuCoin upgrades institutional lending program

KuCoin, a global cryptocurrency platform, has upgraded its Institutional Interest-Free Lending Program by adding support for its Unified Trading Account (UTA).

The update lowers the external 30-day trading volume requirement for newly registered API clients from 30 million USDT to 10 million USDT.

Eligible clients can also access 0% interest for the first two months without a trading volume requirement and borrow up to 3 million USDT for use across Spot, Margin and Futures.

According to KuCoin, the update is intended to reduce the costs and operational complexity that can arise when institutional capital is spread across multiple accounts and trading products.

Integrating lending with a unified account allows eligible users to access financing and deploy capital through the same account structure.

UTA allows eligible users to manage capital across supported trading products through a single account.

With Institutional Lending integrated into UTA, borrowed funds can be used across Spot, Margin and Futures without transfers between separate trading accounts. Borrowing is available in USDT, USDC, BTC and ETH.

KuCoin introduced its interest-free credit program in 2024, offering eligible API traders and quantitative teams up to 500,000 USDT, along with fee benefits, higher API limits, enhanced connectivity and technical support.

In 2025, the borrowing limit increased to 3 million USDT, while the program added support for multiple borrowing assets and allowed users to combine funds from sub-accounts as margin across eligible products.

“Professional market participants need timely, flexible and capital-efficient access to liquidity. Effective institutional lending infrastructure must combine financing at scale, tailored terms and competitive pricing so clients can execute sophisticated strategies with confidence,” said Alison Qin, Head of KuCoin Institutional & VIP.

KuCoin said the 2026 upgrade moves the program toward a more integrated institutional capital infrastructure by connecting lending directly with its unified account framework.

KuCoin said the upgrade is part of its broader product strategy focused on how users access, manage and deploy digital assets.

The company added that connecting financing, account infrastructure and execution is intended to provide institutions with tools for participating in the digital asset market.