Solv Protocol, which offers financial services to bitcoin (BTC) holders, announced BTC+, an automated vault for generating returns on spot market holdings. The new product taps several crypto sub-sectors and strategies, including basis arbitrage, DeFi credit markets, protocol staking and tokenized real-world assets to offer a one-stop yield-farming shop for BTC holders. The introduction underscores the growing demand for yield among BTC holders, which could eventually bring fixed income-like appeal to bitcoin, complementing the digital gold status assigned by some devotees. According to Solv, which DeFiLlama data shows has 17,480 BTC worth over $2 billion locked on its platform, more than $1 trillion in BTC is sitting idle as institutions invest billions in spot exchange-traded funds. The time is ripe, it says, for BTC to become more of a yield-bearing instrument. “Bitcoin is one of the world’s most powerful forms of collateral, but its yield potential has remained underutilized,” said Ryan Chow, co-founder of Solv Protocol in a statement. “It’s a product born from institutional finance, matured in DeFi, and accessible to anyone who believes bitcoin should do more than sit idle.” The vault automates yield generation, relieving holders of the need to manually select investment strategies. It offers a base return of 4.5% to 5.5%, according to a release shared with CoinDesk. The vault employs a dual-layer architecture that separates custody from execution, integrates Chainlink’s Proof-of-Reserves for real-time verification, and features NAV-based drawdown safeguards with inherent risk segmentation. It is also offers a Shariah-compliant variant. Solv functions as both a staking protocol and a structured yield platform, featuring its own on-chain BTC reserve. The protocol is backed by Binance Labs, Blockchain Capital, Laser Digital, and OKX Ventures.
