Tenor OTC adds AERO as collateral for fixed-rate borrowing on Base

Tenor OTC, the bespoke lending arm of Tenor Finance, now accepts AERO as collateral for fixed-rate borrowing on Base. The move gives holders of Aerodrome’s governance and rewards token a new way to put their assets to work without selling them.

Tenor OTC isn’t your typical DeFi lending pool. Instead of dumping assets into a shared liquidity pool, borrowers and lenders negotiate bespoke agreements directly. The platform is powered by Morpho Midnight, which handles the underlying OTC mechanics for custom collateral types. Users can define their own collateral assets, loan durations, and terms.

The platform launched on July 21, 2026, and has been steadily expanding the list of supported collateral since then. AERO is the latest addition.

Why AERO matters on Base

AERO is the native token of Aerodrome, the dominant decentralized exchange on Base. It functions as both a governance token and a rewards mechanism within the Aerodrome ecosystem. Being able to post AERO as collateral for a fixed-rate loan allows borrowers to access capital without giving up their position in the Aerodrome ecosystem.

Platform features and institutional tilt

Tenor OTC ships with several features that point toward an institutional audience: auto-renewal for loans, collateral-on-fill for borrow orders, early exit options, and gated offers.

Auto-renewal means borrowers don’t have to manually roll their positions when a loan term expires. Collateral-on-fill lets borrowers set up orders that only lock their collateral once a matching lender is found. Early exits give borrowers a way out before maturity, and gated offers allow lenders to restrict who can access their liquidity.

Tenor Finance raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed funding round to build this infrastructure. The company has also partnered with Armitage, the OTC arm of market maker Wintermute, and Clearstar to provide better quotes on the platform.

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