Crypto Inc. is borrowing straight from Wall Street’s playbook.
As the digital-asset industry booms, 160 public companies have drawn inspiration from industry vanguard Michael Saylor to amass some 300,000 Bitcoin. Increasingly though, they’re no longer content to simply sit on it.
They’re lending their coins, locking them up for rewards, or selling options, all in a bid to milk income from idle holdings.
It’s a break from Bitcoin’s original creed. The crypto experiment was born as a rejection of Wall Street’s leverage and financial engineering. Where banks generated income through complexity, Bitcoin promised patience and riches over the long haul.
For diehards like Saylor, “HODL” — “hold on for dear life” — wasn’t just a tactic. It was doctrine. Now, that orthodoxy is unraveling.
In its place: listed companies with earnings reports and shareholders are seeking to eke out cash flows from crypto holdings of all stripes.
With memories of the industry’s crash in 2022 still fresh, those returns come with trade-offs: assets locked up for months, recycled in riskier ways, or routed through opaque crypto ecosystems. While many strategies are in their infancy, the list of would-be yield hunters keeps growing.
Twenty One Capital, a crypto firm, is weighing whether to lend out US dollars against Bitcoin as collateral, according to a person familiar with the matter. “Optionality is wealth, for us everything is on the table because we think we can do anything,” said a firm spokesperson.
Until recently, public company crypto holdings were largely passive in nature — more symbolic than strategic. Now, a new group is flipping that logic: inaction isn’t principle. It’s wasted capital. Especially for those under pressure.
DDC Enterprise, a money-losing Asian food firm, saw its stock plunge this spring, triggering a NYSE halt. Then came a reverse split, a Bitcoin buying spree, and a rebrand as a “leading Bitcoin treasury.”
The stock jumped more than 800%. In July, it said it would partner with QCP Capital to earn yield on its Bitcoin.
“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.”
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.”
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