HTX Ventures’ Latest Research Report Decodes “Yield-Driven Dollars”: How Emerging Crypto Banks Are Reshaping the Global Deposit Landscape
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HTX Ventures’ Latest Research Report Decodes “Yield-Driven Dollars”: How Emerging Crypto Banks Are Reshaping the Global Deposit Landscape
The core of this transformation lies not in whether stablecoins can continue to grow, but in how the relationships among money, deposits, yields, liquidations, and regulation will be redefined.
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Recently, HTX Ventures—the global investment arm of HTX—released its latest research report titled The Rise of Yield-Bearing Currency: How Crypto Neobanks Are Challenging the Traditional Banking Model. The report argues that the global financial system stands at the threshold of a structural reorganization—one side anchored by the legacy system built on $103 trillion in customer deposits and banking licenses, the other driven by stablecoins, wallets, custody solutions, and on-chain yield protocols. As dollar-denominated assets begin to exist “on-chain,” simultaneously enabling holding, transferability, and yield generation, the traditional banking model—built upon deposit-taking—is undergoing a historic repricing. At the heart of this transformation is the evolution of stablecoins from mere “payment instruments” into “yield-bearing dollar accounts.” The financial infrastructure facilitating this shift is what we call “crypto neobanks.”
Two Generations of Digital Banking: From UX Upgrades to Foundational Restructuring
The evolution of digital banking has unfolded across two waves. The first wave emerged in the 2010s, led by fintech neobanks such as Chime, Nubank, Revolut, and Monzo. These institutions transformed *how* banks are used—but even with seamless front-end experiences, their back-end settlement still relies on legacy systems like ACH and SWIFT. Fundamentally, they represent a user-experience layer wrapped around the traditional banking stack.
Truly structural change comes from crypto neobanks—platforms like Coinbase, Cash App, Robinhood, and Crypto.com. This phase redefines the very nature of financial assets and custody: native custodial accounts replace liability entries on bank ledgers; stablecoin payment networks bypass traditional wire-transfer timelines; and integrated yield products directly pass underlying asset returns to end users. What’s changing is no longer *how banks are used*, but *how money exists, moves, and generates yield*.
Crypto neobanks are not a clearly defined institutional category, but rather a functional paradigm. Leading crypto exchanges—through earn products, stablecoin services, and on-chain yield offerings—are actively evolving into primary participants in this space.
From Medium of Exchange to Yield-Bearing Asset: The Functional Evolution of Stablecoins
The emergence of crypto neobanks rests on a fundamental shift in stablecoins’ role. As of March 2026, the global stablecoin market cap has surpassed $319 billion; U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent forecasts it could reach $3.7 trillion by the end of this decade. Yet more significant than sheer growth is the functional repositioning of stablecoins. In their early days, stablecoins served three main roles: inter-exchange settlement assets, dollar-denominated mediums for on-chain transactions, and “dollar substitutes” within the crypto ecosystem. But beginning in 2024, an increasing number of users are no longer just *using* stablecoins—they are *holding* them, turning stablecoins into integral components of asset allocation and cash management.
This transition is driven by dual shifts—in macro interest-rate environments and product design. Compliant stablecoin issuers allocate reserves into short-term U.S. Treasuries and reverse repurchase agreements, naturally linking the entire stablecoin ecosystem to the U.S. benchmark rate. Simultaneously, platforms have begun packaging complex underlying asset allocations into simple “yield-bearing accounts,” transforming user experience from “participating in DeFi protocols” to “depositing dollars into an account that supports instant withdrawals—and earns yield.”
Reshaping Yield Distribution: From Bank Retention to User-Centric Outflow
The most critical shift lies in yield distribution. Traditional banks absorb low-cost deposits and deploy them into higher-yielding assets, retaining the spread on their own balance sheets—users receive only a small fraction. In contrast, the stablecoin and on-chain yield ecosystem channels yields previously internalized by banks directly to end holders—delivering annualized yields commonly ranging from 3% to 8%.
This shift is clearly visible in the earn businesses of leading exchanges. As a key participant in the crypto neobank space, HTX exemplifies the “yield-bearing dollar” model within exchange environments: On liquidity, HTX supports instant deposits and withdrawals—distinct from traditional banks’ long-term fixed-deposit lockups; on yield, HTX compounds interest hourly, significantly enhancing capital efficiency for retail funds compared to traditional banks’ monthly or quarterly payout cycles; on product breadth, its three core lines—simple earn, structured products, and on-chain products—cover over 300 tokens and include structured derivatives like “Dual-Token Earnings” to meet hedging needs of professional capital. HTX Ventures contends that this combination of “high-frequency compounding + flexible liquidity + diversified asset offerings” constitutes one of the core competitive advantages distinguishing crypto neobanks from traditional savings products.
Three Potential Trajectories for Future Evolution
Where will this foundational contest between monetary forms and business models ultimately lead? The report outlines three plausible paths: (1) crypto neobanks achieve comprehensive dominance, with stablecoins leading global payments and savings markets; (2) traditional banks successfully counterattack via tokenized deposits (e.g., JPMorgan’s JPMD), relegating crypto infrastructure to a technical service layer for banks; or (3) a hybrid financial stack emerges—where non-bank stablecoins coexist with tokenized deposits, traditional commercial banks retain their central role in credit creation, yet core ledgers and on-chain protocols become deeply interoperable.
Given current regulatory developments and industry momentum, the third path appears most realistic. Regulatory debates surrounding the U.S. GENIUS Act, CLARITY Act, the EU’s MiCA framework, and Hong Kong’s stablecoin rules reveal that the “battle for monetary definition” won’t culminate in total victory for either side—but rather evolve into a multi-layered, coexisting architecture forged through institutional coordination.
Conclusion
The crux of this transformation lies not in whether stablecoins will continue growing, but in how relationships among money, deposits, yield, settlement, and regulation will be fundamentally redefined. For crypto platforms, competitive success hinges not solely on yield levels—but more critically on establishing verifiable security boundaries and institutional trust beyond yield alone. The ultimate winners will be those who bridge the traditional financial world and the on-chain universe.
From high-frequency compounding and flexible liquidity in earn products, to long-term investment and incubation of global crypto financial infrastructure, HTX and HTX Ventures embody precisely this “bridge-builder” role—balancing compliance and innovation so users can enjoy both the efficiency and yield of the on-chain world, and the security boundaries and trust foundations provided by top-tier platforms.
About HTX Ventures
HTX Ventures is the global investment division of HTX, integrating investment, incubation, and research to identify the world’s most talented and innovative teams. As an industry pioneer, HTX Ventures brings over 11 years of blockchain-building expertise and excels at spotting cutting-edge technologies and emerging business models. To drive growth across the blockchain ecosystem, we offer comprehensive support—including funding, resources, and strategic guidance—to portfolio projects.
HTX Ventures currently backs over 300 projects spanning multiple blockchain domains, with select high-quality projects already listed on HTX. Additionally, as one of the most active fund-of-funds (FoF) in the industry, HTX Ventures invests in 30 top-tier global funds and collaborates with leading blockchain funds including Polychain, Dragonfly, Bankless, Gitcoin, Figment, Nomad, Animoca, and Hack VC to jointly build the blockchain ecosystem. Visit us.
For investment and partnership inquiries, please contact VC@htx-inc.com
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