It finally pays to be in DeFi, and that’s great

Over the last few months, the number of traditional companies adding significant chunks of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), or even less mainstream cryptocurrencies to their treasuries in search of yield has grown exponentially. Public companies now hold a total of 959,986 BTC, worth over $110 billion, and ETH treasuries have climbed to $13 billion. Crypto has turned from a niche investment to an institutional yield-generation engine.

Yet, although this has brought hundreds of millions of dollars into the crypto and decentralized finance ecosystems, swelling total crypto assets beyond $4 trillion for the first time in history, critics warn this growing trend could be a dangerous bubble reminiscent of 2022. They urge investors to remember the chaos unleashed on the crypto industry by CeFi platforms like Celsius and BlockFi, which wiped out at least $20 billion of investors’ assets.

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But, while caution is always warranted, this time really is different. And that’s because now, crypto has the full support of both U.S. regulators, who had been waging a silent war against digital assets during the previous bull run, and financial institutions. This change began with the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. in January 2024. Now, these vehicles hold over $160 billion in total assets under management — nearly the same as U.S. gold ETFs that have been around for decades. As corporations now turn to crypto and DeFi for yield, it’s safe to say a new era is upon us — and this is something to celebrate.

The TradFi chase for DeFi yield

For years, BTC’s primary narrative centered around its role as a hedge against inflation and an alternative store of value, while Ethereum emerged as the first-ever programmable blockchain. But today, they are much more than passive assets with the promise of market-beating returns: TradFi companies are increasingly using assets like ETH to extract yield. The logic behind the corporate accumulation of digital assets is changing: if companies are going to hold crypto, it must work for them.

A prominent example is GameSquare Holdings. The company is targeting an annualized return of 8-14% on a portfolio worth some $99 million in ETH, non-fungible tokens, and cash. Other firms exploring ETH treasuries include Sharplink Gaming, which established ETH as its primary treasury reserve asset in early June 2025. By the end of the month, it had accumulated 728,804 ETH “through yield generation and intelligent capital deployment” — and nearly 100% of this is staked, generating cumulative returns.

It’s not just Ethereum-based yield strategies — Bitcoin is also helping companies generate better returns. For example, DDC Enterprise, which recently purchased an additional 120 Bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to 488 BTC, has seen an 819% surge in yield since its first crypto acquisition in May. These companies are no longer just experimenting with crypto; they are emerging as the new frontier of DeFi.

The new rules of yield in DeFi

The obsession with yield was at the heart of the 2022 crypto collapse. Few stories capture this better than Celsius, which attracted billions in user deposits by promising returns of up to 18%. An alternative to traditional banks, Celsius took deposited crypto and lent it out to other industry players at high yields, who then used it for trading. But when the crypto market downturn began, this model quickly collapsed, revealing liabilities, poor risk management, and a lack of transparency.

The lessons from 2022 shouldn’t be forgotten just because crypto is pumping again. Yet today, the yield conversation is rooted in more sustainable fundamentals. DeFi protocols are battle-tested, smart contract infrastructure has matured, risk disclosures have improved, and many protocols now include real-time auditing, transparent treasury management, and better incentive structures. Staking, liquid restaking, and protocol revenue sharing have replaced unsustainable lending loops. Importantly, yield today comes with a clearer understanding of where it originates, whether from transaction fees, block rewards, Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) strategies, or validator incentives.

Another trend accelerating DeFi’s maturation is the rise of real-world asset tokenization. In 2024, the total market capitalization of tokenized assets surged by 32%, while assets in tokenized treasuries surged by 179%. Key industry players, including Robinhood, Ondo Finance, and Backed Finance, have started to offer tokenized versions of traditional assets like stocks, allowing investors to earn real-world yield, and even Nasdaq wants to launch tokenized securities trading. Bringing traditional assets on-chain provides the transparency, composability, and programmability crypto-native users expect, while also appealing to institutional allocators familiar with fixed-income structures.

A sustainable future

The result of all these developments is that even previously cautious institutions are beginning to view DeFi yields as structured, quantifiable returns that can be evaluated alongside other fixed-income opportunities in traditional markets. For instance, Franklin Templeton has integrated blockchain infrastructure to tokenize and manage money market funds on-chain, letting institutional investors access stable, yield-generating products through decentralized means.

Over the coming months and years, the combination of corporate crypto accumulation, RWA tokenization, and mature DeFi protocol design will help build a more stable and scalable yield ecosystem. The industry is witnessing a shift from opaque, centralized yield schemes to on-chain, transparent, and modular strategies, and the growing involvement of TradFi is to thank for this. The new yield paradigm is nothing like what we saw during the DeFi summer of 2021 — it’s now a legitimate and important part of the traditional financial ecosystem.

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