Bitcoin's Evolution: From Digital Gold to Yield-Generating Asset
Opinion by: Armando Aguilar, head of capital formation and growth at TeraHash
For years, Bitcoin was viewed as a static asset, a decentralized store of value with a predetermined issuance. However, this perception is changing. Over $7 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) is now actively generating yield via on-chain protocols.
Bitcoin's Productive Turn
While gold, with a market cap of around $23 trillion, largely remains idle, Bitcoin is now capable of earning yield while holders maintain custody. This evolution marks a significant shift: Bitcoin is moving from being simply scarce to being productively scarce.
This transition is impacting how capital prices risk, how institutions allocate reserves, and how portfolio theory considers safety. Scarcity explains price stability, but its productivity is drawing miners, treasuries, and funds toward BTC as more than just a foundational asset.
A vault asset that generates yield is no longer just digital gold—it's productive capital.
Productivity Augments Scarcity
Bitcoin's fundamentals remain unchanged: the supply is capped at 21 million, the issuance is transparent, and there's no central control. However, in 2025, these factors are enabling more. New protocol layers are enabling BTC to generate on-chain returns.
Holders can now earn real yield without relinquishing custody, relying on centralized platforms, or altering the base protocol. This doesn't impact Bitcoin's core mechanics but transforms how capital interacts with the asset.
El Salvador continues to allocate BTC to its national treasury, and a 2025 US executive order recognized Bitcoin as a strategic reserve. Spot ETFs hold over 1.26 million BTC—over 6% of the total supply.
Public miners are increasingly allocating BTC to staking and yield strategies to boost long-term returns, proving that what once made Bitcoin reliable is now making it powerful.
Earning Yield While Retaining Control
Earning a return on crypto was historically challenging, particularly in Bitcoin, where non-custodial yield was scarce. But new protocol layers now enable holders to deploy BTC in ways previously restricted to centralized platforms.
Some platforms allow staking native BTC to secure the network while earning yield, while others allow Bitcoin to be used in DeFi apps, earning fees from swaps and lending—all without giving up ownership or keys.
These strategies are gaining traction. Miner-aligned approaches are quietly becoming popular among firms aiming to improve treasury efficiency within the Bitcoin ecosystem. As a result, a yield curve native to Bitcoin and based on transparency is emerging.
Benchmarking Bitcoin Yield
A standard is needed to measure the potential yield from productive BTC, as there are no directly comparable assets. Currently, there's no clear framework for assessing risk and return.
A benchmark is needed – a repeatable, self-custodied, and on-chain yield generated natively on Bitcoin (net of fees) grouped by term lengths: seven days, 30, 90. This would turn yield from guesswork into something that can be easily referenced.
Once such a benchmark exists, treasury policies and strategies can be built around it, and risk can be more accurately priced.
Gold doesn’t pay you — productive Bitcoin does. How treasuries manage BTC, whether as a passive trinket or an active earning asset, will define capital management in the digital age.
Opinion by: Armando Aguilar, head of capital formation and growth at TeraHash.