Opinion: Armando Aguilar, Head of Capital Formation and Growth at Terahash
Bitcoin has been treated purely as an inert asset for many years. It is a decentralized safe that is economically passive despite its fixed issuance schedule. But over $7 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) has already achieved yields for native Onchain through major protocols. That premise has collapsed.
Gold’s ~$23 trillion market capitalization is primarily idle. By contrast, Bitcoin is now on-chain, with holders still in custody. When the new layer is unlocked, Bitcoin will exceed the structural threshold.
That change quietly redefines the risks of capital prices, how institutions allocate reserves, and how portfolio theory explains safety. Rareness may explain price stability. Still, productivity explains why miners, the Treasury and funds are parking assets to BTC rather than simply building around them.
The yield-earning vault assets are no longer digital gold, but productive capital.
Rareness is important, but productivity is the rule
Bitcoin’s economic DNA has not been changed. Supply is kept at 21 million, the issuance schedule is transparent and cannot be inflated or censored by the central authorities. While rarity, auditability and resistance to manipulation always highlight Bitcoin, in 2025, these differentiation and unique factors began to mean something.
Even if BTC can generate an ONCHAIN return in the new protocol layer, Bitcoin is gaining traction for it being enabled, as the issuance rate is locked. A new set of tools provides holders with the ability to gain actual yields without relying on a centralized platform to change basic protocols and without waiver of custody. Bitcoin’s core mechanics remain untouched, but it changes how capital engages with assets.
We’ve already seen the effect. Bitcoin is the only crypto asset officially held at the Sovereign Reserve. El Salvador continues to allocate BTC at its national Treasury Department, and a 2025 US executive order recognized Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset for its critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, Spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) currently hold more than 126 million BTC. This is more than 6% of total supply.
Related: US Bitcoin Reserves vs. Gold and Oil Reserves: How do they compare?
Also, on the mining side, public miners are no longer in a hurry to sell. Instead, an increasing share allocates BTC to staking and synthetic yield strategies to improve long-term returns.
It has been revealed that the original value proposition has evolved subtly in design, but in reality it has evolved so much. What once became trustworthy makes Bitcoin strong. This lays the foundation for what comes next. Not to mention Bitcoin linked assets, it is a native yield curve formed around Bitcoin itself.
Bitcoin earns money without giving up control
Until recently, the idea of getting a crypto return seemed out of reach. In the case of Bitcoin, finding non-legal yields was difficult, at least without compromising neutrality in its basic layer. However, that assumption is no longer maintained. Today, the new protocol layer allows holders to operate BTC in a limited way to centralized platforms.
Some platforms help long-term holders bet on native BTC to secure their networks while earning yields without wrapping their assets or moving the chain. Then, other users will allow users to use Bitcoin on decentralized finance apps, earn fees from swaps and lend loans without giving up ownership. And the catch is that none of these systems need to hand over the keys to third parties, and none of them rely on the opaque type of farming game that has caused problems in the past.
At this point it is clear that this is no longer a pilot scale. Additionally, the Minor Alliance strategy is quietly gaining traction among companies looking to increase financial efficiency without leaving the Bitcoin ecosystem. As a result, a yield curve that grows wild on Bitcoin and is based on transparency is beginning to take shape.
Another issue becomes clear after Bitcoin yields become more accessible and independent. How do you measure it? Clarity is missing when the protocol is made available and accessible. Because without a standard to explain what productive BTC earns, investors, the Treasury and miners are making decisions in the dark.
Time to benchmark Bitcoin yields
If Bitcoin can earn a return, the next logical step is a simple way to measure it.
There is no standard at the moment. Some investors view BTC as hedge capital. Others made it work and collected yields. However, there is a discrepancy in the actual benchmarks for measuring Bitcoin, as there are no actual comparable assets. For example, a Treasury team might lock a coin for a week, but there is no easy way to explain the risk. Or miners may route their compensation to yield strategies, but still treat them as diversification in the Ministry of Finance.
Consider a medium-sized, decentralized autonomous organization with 1,200 BTC and six months of payroll. Put half of your 30-day safe with a Bitcoin-placed protocol and earn your yields. But without a baseline, the team can’t say whether it’s a cautious move or a dangerous move. The same choice may be praised as a clever Treasury ministry or criticised for chasing yields, depending on who analyzes the approach.
What Bitcoin needs is a benchmark. Rather than “risk-free rate” in the bond market sense, baseline: repeatable, self-supporting, on-chine yields, fee nets, term length – 7 days, 30, 90.
When it exists, you can build Treasury policies, disclosures and strategies around it. Everything above that baseline can be priced for what it is.
That’s where the gold-filled phors break. Gold won’t pay you – productive Bitcoin does. The longer finances treat BTC like vault trinkets without returning, the easier it is to see who is controlling capital and who is keeping it.
Opinion: Armando Aguilar, Head of Capital Formation and Growth at Terahash.
This article is for general informational purposes and is not intended to be considered legal or investment advice, and should not be done. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or express Cointregraph’s views and opinions.
