Alternatives: Existing BTC Yield

Bitcoin is the most widely held and institutionally adopted crypto asset. Yet despite its scale and significance, there is no standardized system for earning BTC-denominated yield. More than 94% of all Bitcoin remains idle, and less than 1% is deployed in on-chain financial systems.

Among existing BTC yield products, returns are minimal and sustainability is limited.

Borrowing and Lending: Structurally Constrained

BTC lending markets remain shallow. Few participants borrow BTC at scale, and fewer still lend it in ways that are transparent, efficient, or aligned with modern custody requirements.

• On Binance, the maximum yield available is 0.26% APR, and only for deposits under 0.01 BTC. For larger deposits, the return drops to 0.01% APR.

• On Aave, current supply yields for WBTC, tBTC, cbBTC, and similar wrappers sit at <0.05% APR across the board with $5B supplied.

These figures reflect a fundamental mismatch: capital is available, demand is high, however the expected returns are low, and the infrastructure to allocate BTC productively remains underdeveloped.

Emission-Based Incentives: Mechanically Limited

Some protocols offer BTC “staking” models that issue native tokens as rewards. These do not generate yield through execution or strategy, but instead rely on token inflation and short-term incentives to stimulate yield.

While these systems may offer headline APRs, they typically exhibit:

• No link to external market activity or performance

• Declining incentives over time as emissions taper

• Fragility in the face of price volatility or shifting user behavior

Without an external, persistent yield source, these systems are inherently temporary.

The Structural Gap

Bitcoin’s role in global markets is expanding—but its financial utility remains limited by a lack of scalable, transparent, and compliant infrastructure for yield generation.

Syntetika is designed to solve this: by connecting BTC capital to institutional strategies, while preserving clarity, custody, and composability.