Solv Protocol has launched a yield-bearing Bitcoin token on the Avalanche blockchain, giving institutional investors more exposure to yield opportunities backed by real-world assets, or RWAs.

On May 16, the protocol unveiled SolvBTC.AVAX, a token that connects Bitcoin (BTC) to real-world assets like US Treasurys and private credit offered by BlackRock and Hamilton Lane. 

The new token was developed through a seven-way partnership involving Solv, Avalanche, Balancer, Elixir, Euler, Re7 Labs, and LFJ, the company said. 

Solv Protocol founder Ryan Chow said the token is a way to link Bitcoin to “real-world economic cycles” in uncorrelated assets such as US government bonds and private credit, as opposed to BTC’s typical boom-and-bust four-year cycle.

The token uses a multi-protocol strategy to generate yield involving Elixir’s deUSD stablecoin, Treasurys provided by BlackRock and Hamilton Lane via Elixir, and incorporated on the lending platform Euler to increase RWA exposure.

“The yield is received in BTC format,” a Solv Protocol spokesperson told Cointelegraph

Elixir deUSD is a synthetic dollar with nearly $220 million in market capitalization. Source: RWA.xyz

Solv is a Bitcoin-centric staking platform that offers yield strategies across various blockchains and decentralized finance applications. The protocol commands more than $2.3 billion in total value locked, according to industry data. 

Solv Protocol’s TVL. Source: DefiLlama

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The race to offer Bitcoin yield intensifies

Demand for Bitcoin yield solutions has grown amid the recent wave of institutional adoption of digital assets.

Earlier this month, crypto exchange Coinbase launched the Bitcoin Yield Fund, which aims to offer annual returns of between 4% and 8% on BTC holdings. 

The yield will be earned through a cash-and-carry strategy, which involves purchasing BTC in the spot market and selling a corresponding futures contract, Coinbase said.

CoinShares analyst Satish Patel predicted the growing interest in Bitcoin yield in December, noting that more investors now see BTC “not only as a store of value but also as a means to generate yields.”

While there are many ways to generate Bitcoin yield, such as leveraging derivatives or yield farming, Michael Saylor’s Strategy introduced its own “BTC Yield” metric to measure the performance of its investment strategy.

Strategy’s BTC Yield, which measures how much additional Bitcoin it’s acquiring relative to its outstanding shares, is currently 15.5% year-to-date, according to the company. 

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At least one partner at Sequoia Capital was reportedly impacted by the recent data breach among Coinbase users, suggesting that data from others at the venture capital firm may also have been compromised.

According to a May 16 Bloomberg report, Sequoia Capital Managing Partner Roelof Botha’s personal information available through his Coinbase account was stolen after a group of cybercriminals bribed the exchange’s support agents for access to user data. Though Botha had not publicly disclosed his net worth, estimates suggested he had hundreds of millions of dollars in assets.

Coinbase disclosed the data breach in a May 15 blog post, saying that some of its users had been targeted with social engineering attacks after the criminals had access to their personal account information. The company said the group attempted to extort $20 million in exchange for not disclosing the breach, which Coinbase rebuffed.

Though the extent of the breach was still unknown, another Bloomberg report suggested that the same type of attacks targeted users at Kraken and Binance. Cointelegraph reached out to representatives from both exchanges but had not received any response at the time of publication.

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Coinbase’s chief security officer, Philip Martin, reportedly said the contracted customer service agents at the center of the controversy were based in India and had been fired following the breach. The exchange also filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, estimating that they planned to pay between $180 million and $400 million in remediation and reimbursement to affected users.

Coinbase CEO in DC to advocate for crypto bills

Amid the reports related to the data breach, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was in Washington, DC, to support crypto-related legislation being considered in Congress. Lawmakers in the Senate are expected to vote on a stablecoin bill in a matter of days, and those in the House of Representatives are considering a draft digital asset market structure bill.

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This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Galaxy Digital shares began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange May 16, completing a years-long process that CEO Mike Novogratz called unfair and infuriating, CNBC reported.

The crypto and infrastructure company, which is also listed in Canada, opened trading at $23.50 in its Nasdaq debut.

Trading began on the same day Galaxy disclosed that it is working with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to tokenize its shares. According to Bloomberg, the tokens representing Galaxy Digital’s shares could be used in decentralized finance applications, like borrowing or lending.

Galaxy is among several crypto companies looking to access the US markets under a friendlier regulatory regime in the country. Companies that are also exploring or working on a US listing include Metaplanet, Circle, Kraken, and Gemini. Trading platform eToro completed a listing on May 14.

The company has $7 billion in assets on its platform, according to its website. It suffered a loss of $295 million in the first quarter of 2025.

Galaxy Digital’s last two quarters. Source: Galaxy Digital

Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization is gaining traction in crypto, though it still represents a small share of the market. Data from RWA.xyz shows the sector’s market cap at $22.5 billion — a fraction of both global real-world asset values and major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). However, it’s growing fast, with a 111.8% increase over the past year.

One rising trend is tokenizing securities, essentially turning assets like stocks and treasury bonds into tradable tokens on the blockchain. Robinhood is considering building a blockchain that would allow retail investors in Europe to trade tokenized US securities like stocks. Galaxy Digital has plans to tokenize everything from stocks and fixed income to ETFs.

At the SEC’s crypto roundtable on May 12, Chair Paul Atkins compared the tokenization of assets to the music industry moving from analog to digital, which, according to Atkins, greatly benefited the American economy.

The closer relationships that US President Donald Trump has developed with the industry have sparked new enthusiasm for crypto activity in the country. In addition to the flurry of companies preparing for a US public listing, some other crypto companies have announced their reentry into the local market.

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