Crypto’s Biggest Business Models Start Resembling Traditional Banking

This week’s most consequential crypto business headlines point to a clear trend: parts of the industry are increasingly built around the same revenue engines that power traditional finance—interest income, reserve management, and tokenized assets that sit closer to money markets than speculative trading.

BlackRock is expanding into tokenized reserve products for stablecoin issuers, Tether reported $1.5 billion in second-quarter net operating profit supported by US Treasury earnings, tokenized gold saw resilient collateral behavior during a sharp sell-off even as DeFi usage stayed thin, and American Bitcoin—linked to the Trump family—reported record mining output alongside improving losses.

Key takeaways

• BlackRock introduced two tokenized money market products aimed at stablecoin issuers looking to satisfy reserve requirements under the US GENIUS Act.
• Tokenized gold trading volumes rose, but only a small fraction of tokenized gold supply is used as DeFi collateral on Aave v3 and Morpho.
• American Bitcoin reported record Q2 production of 932 BTC and narrowed its net loss, though the miner remains unprofitable.
• Tether’s Q2 profit of $1.5 billion was driven largely by interest from US Treasury holdings and repurchase agreements, alongside a reported reserve surplus of $4.11 billion.

BlackRock moves deeper into onchain reserve infrastructure

Asset manager BlackRock launched two tokenized money market products intended to help stablecoin issuers meet reserve expectations following the US GENIUS Act, according to earlier coverage from Cointelegraph (BlackRock launches tokenized money-market funds for stablecoin reserves).

One product tokenizes shares of BlackRock’s existing Treasury liquidity strategy on Ethereum. Approved investors can transfer token ownership onchain, while the underlying assets remain allocated to cash and short-term US government securities. The design targets a practical split: onchain settlement for ownership, with traditional cash/T-bill-style instruments supporting the fund’s economics.

The second is a new institutional money market vehicle built for digital asset markets. It supports multiple blockchains and automatically reinvests income, positioning it as a reserve-management tool for issuers that need operational continuity rather than one-off tokenization use.

BlackRock also already operates BUIDL, described in the Cointelegraph report as the industry’s largest tokenized Treasury fund. This matters for investors and issuers because it signals that tokenized Treasuries are moving beyond isolated pilot offerings and into broader “plumbing” for stablecoin ecosystems—particularly as regulatory frameworks such as GENIUS are intended to formalize payment stablecoins.

Tokenized gold: resilience in stress, but DeFi adoption lags

A RedStone report found that tokenized bullion held up during gold’s sharp sell-off, but the same analysis pointed to a persistent adoption gap for tokenized real-world assets in DeFi lending. Cointelegraph previously summarized RedStone’s findings in Tokenized gold’s DeFi footprint remains small despite gold’s sell-off.

According to the report, spot trading volume hit $90.7 billion in Q1 as gold futures rallied above $5,600 per troy ounce. Yet only about $63 million of Tether Gold and PAX Gold together was used as collateral on Aave v3 and Morpho, representing roughly 1.5% of their combined $4.2 billion market cap—suggesting that liquidity growth has not translated into proportional use in onchain lending.

Still, the collateral experience during drawdowns was notable. On March 23, Aave processed its largest cluster of XAUT liquidations without disruption after gold fell about 10% in a week, described by JPMorgan’s Greg Shearer as an “extremely brutal flush” in the Cointelegraph coverage. RedStone’s takeaway was essentially twofold: tokenized gold appeared operationally resilient under stress, but the broader DeFi “rail” for tokenized bullion remains underutilized as the tokenized RWA sector scales.

Cointelegraph notes that gold futures later declined more than 20% from January peaks amid expectations of higher US interest rates, reinforcing that tokenized bullion remains sensitive to macro conditions—even if its onchain collateral mechanics can withstand volatility.

American Bitcoin posts record output while losses shrink

American Bitcoin, a Nasdaq-listed miner co-founded by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. and described as Trump family-linked, reported record second-quarter production of 932 BTC, according to Cointelegraph’s earlier report (Trump-linked American Bitcoin posts record output, narrower Q2 losses).

The output helped lift mining revenue by 8% to $67 million in Q2 from $62.1 million in the first quarter. The company posted a net loss of $57.2 million, improving from an $81.8 million loss in Q1—an incremental improvement that matters because miners often operate with slim margins tied to both hash economics and power costs.

American Bitcoin previously completed a 1-for-15 reverse stock split to maintain its Nasdaq listing after its share price fell below the exchange’s minimum bid requirement, as Cointelegraph reported. The miner was majority-owned by Hut 8 and held roughly 8,002 BTC as of June 30, while also pledging about 3,090 BTC as collateral under equipment purchase agreements with Bitmain.

Even with record production and higher revenue, the company remains unprofitable. Cointelegraph highlights two ongoing risk dimensions for shareholders: continued operating losses and balance-sheet exposure to Bitcoin price moves, given the pledged BTC collateral tied to equipment arrangements.

Tether’s Treasury income keeps profits elevated

Tether generated $1.5 billion in net operating profit in the second quarter, primarily driven by interest earned on its US Treasury holdings and repurchase agreements, based on its latest quarterly attestation, per Cointelegraph (Tether posts $1.5 billion Q2 profit as US Treasury income boosts reserves).

In the attestation, Tether reported a reserve buffer of $4.11 billion as of June 30, with assets exceeding liabilities by that amount. That reserve surplus and the profit figure come at a time when the broader stablecoin market has contracted, but USDT circulating supply still rose by $446 million to $184.6 billion. The same Cointelegraph coverage states that USDT continues to represent more than 60% of the global stablecoin market, which DeFiLlama valued at roughly $307 billion.

Tether’s earnings model continues to benefit from elevated short-term interest rates, which increases income from Treasury bills and cash equivalents. However, the article also notes that stronger profits arrive amid sector-wide pressure and a weaker stablecoin market—conditions that could limit growth if rate conditions change or contraction deepens.

For readers tracking the durability of stablecoin issuers, the key takeaway is not just the profit headline, but the mechanism: Tether remains one of the largest holders of US Treasury securities, so its resilience is closely linked to the yield environment and its ability to maintain reserve buffers through shifting market conditions.

The common thread across these updates is how financial infrastructure is taking center stage—tokenized Treasuries and money-market structures for reserves, real-world collateral behavior under stress, mining operations shaped by balance sheets, and stablecoin profitability tied to interest rates. The next thing to watch is whether onchain reserve tools and tokenized RWA collateral keep expanding in DeFi and regulated stablecoin contexts, or whether adoption remains concentrated despite improving product design.