What is Bitcoin yield?
Bitcoin yield is a return earned on Bitcoin holdings that is denominated in Bitcoin rather than in dollars. The position grows in BTC terms, separate from whatever the Bitcoin price in USD does. Not all Bitcoin yield is alike, and the source of the return is what distinguishes one program from another. Bitcoin yield can come from real economic activity, such as secured lending to Bitcoin mining businesses that repay in BTC, or settlement services that earn spreads in BTC. Apparent yield from mechanisms such as token emissions and points programs that reference Bitcoin without generating any is not real yield on Bitcoin.
Bitcoin itself has no protocol-level yield: unlike Ethereum, there is no staking reward built into the network, so any Bitcoin yield must be produced by an identifiable economic activity. The first diligence question for any Bitcoin yield program is therefore the same: what economic activity produces the return? Bitcoin yield is not guaranteed and involves risk, including the potential loss of principal.