Opinion by: Armando Aguilar, head of capital formation and progress at TeraHash
Bitcoin was handled as a purely inert asset for years: a decentralized vault, economically passive regardless of its mounted issuance schedule. Yet greater than $7 billion value of Bitcoin (BTC) already earns native, onchain yield by way of main protocols — that premise is breaking down.
Gold’s ~$23-trillion market cap largely sits idle. Bitcoin, in contrast, now earns onchain, whereas holders preserve custody. As new layers unlock returns, Bitcoin crosses a structural threshold: from merely passive to productively scarce.
That change is quietly redefining how capital costs threat, how establishments allocate reserves and the way portfolio principle accounts for security. Scarcity might clarify worth stability. Still, productiveness explains why miners, treasuries and funds are actually parking property in BTC moderately than simply constructing round it.
A vault asset that earns yield isn’t digital gold anymore — it’s productive capital.
Scarcity issues, however productiveness guidelines
Bitcoin’s financial DNA hasn’t modified: The provide stays capped at 21 million, the issuance schedule is clear, and no central authority can inflate or censor it. Scarcity, auditability and resistance to manipulation all the time set Bitcoin aside, however in 2025, these differentiating and distinctive components began to imply one thing extra.
As the issuance fee is locked, at the same time as new protocol layers enable BTC to generate onchain returns, Bitcoin is now gaining traction for what it can allow. A brand new set of instruments provides holders the flexibility to earn actual yield with out giving up custody, counting on centralized platforms and altering the bottom protocol. It leaves Bitcoin’s core mechanics untouched however adjustments how capital engages with the asset.
We’re already seeing that impact in follow. Bitcoin is the one crypto asset formally held in sovereign reserves: El Salvador continues to allocate BTC in its nationwide treasury, and a 2025 US govt order acknowledged Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset for essential infrastructure. Meanwhile, spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) now maintain over 1.26 million BTC — greater than 6% of the entire provide.
Related: US Bitcoin reserve vs. gold and oil reserves: How do they evaluate?
Also on the mining aspect, public miners are now not speeding to promote. Instead, a rising share allocates BTC into staking and artificial yield methods to enhance long-term returns.
It’s changing into evident that the unique worth proposition has advanced subtly in design however profoundly in impact. What as soon as made Bitcoin reliable now additionally makes it highly effective — a as soon as passive asset is changing into a yield-producing asset. This lays the inspiration for what comes subsequent: a local yield curve that kinds round Bitcoin itself, to not point out Bitcoin‑linked property.
Bitcoin earns with out giving up management
Until not too long ago, the thought of incomes a return on crypto appeared out of attain. In Bitcoin’s case, it was laborious to search out non-custodial yield, a minimum of with out compromising its base-layer neutrality. But that assumption now not holds. Today, new protocol layers let holders put BTC to work in methods as soon as restricted to centralized platforms.
Some platforms let long-term holders stake native BTC to assist safe the community whereas incomes yield, with out wrapping the asset or shifting it throughout chains. In flip, others enable customers to make use of their Bitcoin in decentralized finance apps, incomes charges from swaps and lending with out giving up possession. And the catch is that none of those methods require handing over keys to a 3rd occasion, and none depend on the sort of opaque yield video games that induced issues up to now.
At this level, it’s clear that that is now not pilot-scale. In addition, miner-aligned methods are quietly gaining traction amongst companies seeking to enhance treasury effectivity with out leaving the Bitcoin ecosystem. As a outcome, a yield curve native to Bitcoin and grounded in transparency is beginning to take form.
Once Bitcoin yield turns into accessible and self-custodied, one other drawback emerges: How do you measure it? If protocols have gotten accessible and accessible, then readability is lacking. Because with out a normal to explain what productive BTC earns, traders, treasuries and miners are left making selections at nighttime.
Time to benchmark Bitcoin yield
If Bitcoin can earn a return, then the following logical step is an easy method to measure it.
Right now, there’s no normal. Some traders see BTC as hedge capital; others put it to work and accumulate yield. However, there are inconsistencies in what the precise benchmark to measure Bitcoin ought to be, as there aren’t any actual comparable property. For instance, a treasury workforce would possibly lock cash for per week however doesn’t have a easy method to clarify the chance, or a miner would possibly route rewards right into a yield technique however nonetheless deal with it as treasury diversification.
Consider a mid-sized decentralized autonomous group with 1,200 BTC and 6 months of payroll forward. It places half right into a 30-day vault on a Bitcoin-secured protocol and earns yield. But with out a baseline, the workforce can’t say whether or not that’s a cautious transfer or a dangerous one. The similar alternative may be praised as intelligent treasury work or criticized as yield-chasing, relying on who analyzes the method.
What Bitcoin wants is a benchmark. Not a “threat‑free fee” within the bond market sense, however a baseline: repeatable, self-custodied and onchain yield that may be generated natively on Bitcoin, web of charges, grouped by time period lengths — seven days, 30, 90. Just sufficient construction to show yield from guesswork into one thing that may be referenced and used as a benchmark.
Once that exists, treasury insurance policies, disclosures and techniques could be constructed round it, and all the pieces above that baseline could be priced for what it’s: threat value taking or not.
That’s the place the metaphor with gold breaks down. Gold doesn’t pay you — productive Bitcoin does. The longer treasuries deal with BTC like a vault trinket with no return, the simpler it’s to see who’s managing capital — and who’s merely storing it.
Opinion by: Armando Aguilar, head of capital formation and progress at TeraHash.
This article is for common data functions and isn’t meant to be and shouldn’t be taken as authorized or funding recommendation. The views, ideas, and opinions expressed listed here are the writer’s alone and don’t essentially replicate or signify the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
