Bitcoin is a bearer asset.

It’s gold with wings.

You own it. You hold it. No one can take it from you—unless you’re careless…

Or you lend it out to a hedge fund dressed like a bank.

And that’s exactly what happened.

First, there was Celsius. They promised yields on your Bitcoin. Like a savings account, but better.

Mashinsky, the CEO, was parading around like a visionary. Turns out, he was gambling with your money. Celsius collapsed. Poof. Billions gone. Users locked out.

Now Mashinsky’s in jail.

Then came BlockFi.

Same story, different suit. They looked legit. Big VC backers. Clean UI. CNBC interviews.

They even got close to a bailout from FTX, which at the time was still wearing its “white knight” costume.

But BlockFi had lent massive sums to Three Arrows Capital—a hedge fund so overleveraged it made Lehman Brothers look like grandma’s bingo night.

3AC blew up. So did BlockFi.

Voyager Digital was another. They made it feel safe. Friendly. Retail-focused.

Earn yield just by parking your crypto. Meanwhile, behind the scenes? They gave over half their lending book to—you guessed it—Three Arrows Capital. When 3AC fell, Voyager followed.

Finally, there’s Genesis. That was the big one.

Genesis was the wiring inside the walls of the crypto lending house. You didn’t see it, but everything ran through it.

Gemini used them for its “Earn” program. So did institutions. Turns out Genesis had exposure to every other failure in the space—FTX, 3AC, BlockFi. And when the tide went out, they were standing there with no pants.

Each of these platforms told you the same thing: “Don’t sell your crypto. Lend it. Let it work for you.”

But the truth was uglier. They didn’t just lend it. They risked it. Multiplied it. Lost it.

Enter the new yield product… MSTY.

The Bitcoin Yield Machine

It’s called YieldMax’s MicroStrategy ETF. And it’s been the talk of Crypto Twitter for a few weeks now.

For the record, it’s nothing like Crypto Banks 1.0.

Celsius and others existed in a regulatory gray zone. For years, no regulator could agree on whose job it was to step in…

Until it was too late.

MSTY is different.

It’s listed. It’s structured. It’s regulated. It files with the SEC. You can read the prospectus, track the dividends, chart the NAV.

It’s not a black box. There’s no rehypothecation.

So here’s the pitch:

With MSTY, you get exposure to Bitcoin through a proxy and live off the yield. No need to sell. No need to work. Just sit back, collect the dividends, and watch it grow.

But how does it really work? And what are the risks?

The Truth About MSTY

Sure, MSTY offers "yield," but in the truest sense of the word: you’re yielding something — namely, the upside.

Here’s the deal:

You buy a Wall Street ETF that sells call options on MicroStrategy—the company that functions like a Bitcoin vault with a Nasdaq ticker—and then distributes that option income back to you as yield.

BUT…

You also yield potential gains to receive income.

Now, MSTY isn’t a scam. But it’s also not a magic money machine.

It’s just volatility sold to the market—packaged and given to shareholders.

It’s real, advanced, and works… for now.

The moment volatility drops on MSTR? The yield goes down the tubes with it.

If you think MSTR will be diluted by new BTC vehicles (like ETFs or tokenized funds), then MSTY isn’t so attractive.

And right now, we’re seeing a bunch of copycats mimicking MicroStrategy’s playbook.

• Public companies adding BTC to treasuries to attract attention (aka the “Saylor Bump”)

• New ETFs and tokenized treasury wrappers offering exposure to BTC + income

• Retail and institutional options desks running similar covered call strategies as MSTY—independently

In other words, MSTR’s uniqueness could be disappearing. And without that uniqueness, its volatility premium may fade.

If that happens? Value of MSTY goes down too.

It’s not a bond.

It’s not a stablecoin.

It’s a fund tied to one volatile asset that happens to be sitting on top of another volatile asset (Bitcoin).

Understand What You’re Buying

In summary…

The bear case is dilution from copycats and cleaner access. The bull case is that no one can out-Saylor Saylor—and MSTR is still the apex meme stock for true BTC believers with a taste for volatility.

MSTY is not for most people.

BUT…

If you understand what you’re buying (and the trade-offs), it’s nothing like the crypto yield products of yesteryear.