itcoin staking, lending, and DeFi yield are different BTC yield paths, not interchangeable labels. Staking-style products pay from protocol security or BTC-linked reward mechanisms. Lending pays from borrower interest. DeFi yield comes from trading fees, liquidity incentives, vault strategies, token emissions, or basis trades. The article compares each path by payer, reward asset, custody model, exit path, and failure mode, with examples from Babylon, Lombard, Stacks, Zest, Amboss, YieldBasis, and other tracked BitcoinYield products. Its core takeaway: compare the mechanism before the APR. A higher screen rate only matters after you know who pays it, what asset you receive, who controls the BTC, and how you exit.
B HODL just gave the market a useful signal for where Bitcoin treasury companies are heading next: BTC held on the balance sheet needs to be put to work.