“Putting dormant assets to work is a foundational concept in traditional finance,” said Darius Sit, founder of QCP, at the time. “Our mission is to bring that same level of risk-managed capability to the digital asset world.”
“The vast majority” of treasury firms are now exploring yield, said Cosmo Jiang of Pantera Capital. Ethereum and Solana treasuries are already generating income from staking, and some are considering lending or routing exposure through the world of decentralized finance.
SharpLink Gaming, one of the larger Ethereum holders in the group, is still building its risk framework. “We are adults, and we are absolutely serious about this,” said John Chard, vice president of operations. “These things are best done in a measured way rather than being rushed. There are a lot of strange actors out there, but it’s not us.”
BSTR, known as Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, is considering writing put options to potentially buy more Bitcoin at a discounted price. Other firms are going even further. GameSquare Holdings holds Ether on its books and recently bought a $5 million piece of CryptoPunk digital art — not just to sit on it, but to license it. Executives say they’re exploring brand partnerships and marketing, targeting 6% to 10% annualized returns. “Even NFTs can be productive, yield-bearing assets,” said a spokesperson at the firm.
Bitcoin doesn’t offer native income. To earn a return, companies have to extract it — by lending coins, using them as collateral, or selling future upside through options. It’s a newer frontier, and many Bitcoin treasuries are still in the planning phase. “Everyone is at least open-minded and considering it,” Jiang said.
For some institutional investors, yield may ultimately be what nudges crypto from speculative bet to strategic asset, a shift that is already reshaping how firms act. “As more and more of these digital asset treasury companies pop up, there’s a demand from their investor base to differentiate yourself,” said Ravi Doshi of FalconX. That means token-backed trades, lending agreements, and increasingly complex yield strategies. The mechanics resemble Wall Street — layers of risk and return, built not with banks, but with code.
“We employ a risk management team to manage the risk,” said Andrew Keys, chairman of the Ether Machine, an Ether treasury company.
Not everyone is convinced the broad industry-wide yield hunt will bear fruit. “Companies say they can generate 5% yield, and ‘we’ll generate 10% yield’, and immediately alarm bells are going off,” said Chris Rhine at Galaxy Digital, which offers yield-advisory services. “Investors need to be watching the types of activities these companies are doing.”
The memory of 2022 still lingers when Terra, Celsius, BlockFi, FTX all collapsed chasing yield, in part as collateral turned illiquid. Crypto was designed to bypass traditional finance. But the new corporate cohort isn’t following Bitcoin’s defiant austerity or Ethereum’s decentralized experimentation. They’re firms under shareholder pressure — converting crypto from a symbol of rebellion into a source of return.
To early believers, it’s starting to look like a hostile takeover, from monetary protest to risk-managed income fund. The move also breaks with Saylor’s original playbook. The Strategy CEO famously pioneered corporate Bitcoin adoption by leveraging equity and debt to buy more, in a bold bet on digital scarcity that drew its own set of critics.
“When treasury managers start chasing yield on their BTC through risky strategies, like writing options or lending in opaque DeFi protocols, that’s a deviation from Saylor’s playbook,” said Morten Christensen, founder of AirdropAlert.com and a longtime crypto investor. “He is playing the long game, betting on digital scarcity. Wrapping Bitcoin in riskier financial engineering undermines the core value.”
Even so, Saylor’s firm appears to have not fully closed the door to yield-generating strategies. “We have not created income streams or otherwise generated funds using our Bitcoin holdings, and we don’t have any current intent to do so,” a Strategy spokesperson said. “But as disclosed in our SEC filings, that may change in the future.”
For CFOs juggling volatile assets and shareholder pressure, yield isn’t a moral compromise. It’s fiduciary logic — and a sign of a maturing asset class.
Bitcoin miners are among the first-generation of companies that experimented with yield-generating strategies. MARA Holdings has tapped into crypto options to boost revenue, while CleanSpark is testing derivative-powered strategies to draw steady returns, rather than letting its Bitcoin sit idle. “Soon, we’re going to get into more exotic types of derivatives,” said CleanSpark CFO Gary Vecchiarelli. “We intend to make money on the volatility.”
Even well-managed strategies come with risk. Yield tactics often involve leverage — and leverage can unravel fast when markets swing. “Leverage is what makes financial systems brittle,” said Hilary Allen, a law professor at American University’s Washington College of Law.
Chasing yield takes more than strategy, it demands flawless execution. Companies need airtight custody, strong internal controls, and clear oversight. And even well-structured yield carries trade-offs. Staking rewards can shrink. Loans don’t always get repaid. Options can incur hefty losses when markets swing. “They are all-or-nothing bets,” Allen said.
Some companies are responding with tighter controls. CleanSpark created an investment committee to oversee its options trades. Galaxy Digital evaluates the risk of each platform before deploying funds. A cohort of firms are looking to use custodians to retain control of their coins even when they are staked or lent out. “You never have to give up ownership of your coins,” said Michael Bucella of Neoclassic Capital.
Others are pushing further. Republic Technologies plans to deploy tokens through Pendle, a decentralized finance app that pays interest on crypto. “What was risky three years ago isn’t quite as risky today,” said Republic’s CEO Daniel Liu. “The industry is getting more mature.”
Still, not everyone is yielding.
American Bitcoin, a mining firm tied to Eric Trump, cites the industry’s boom-and-bust cycle. “We are very sensitive,” said board member Asher Genoot. “I think as part of a treasury company, you don’t want to take too much risk and put your coins at risk.”
