Returns on Crypto Assets: The Hidden Message

The following article originally appeared in Institutional Crypto by CoinDesk, a newsletter for the institutional market, with news and views on crypto infrastructure delivered every Tuesday.

The crypto world does not move to such a predictable rhythm and the building during the bear market has yet to show substantive signs of flowering.

Battlestar Capital has partnered with crypto lender Celsius to launch a staking network, which will handle proof-of-stake token deposits offering returns of between 5 percent and 30 percent.

We also have the growing attention paid to returns from crypto loans, evidenced by the inflow of $25 million-worth of crypto in just two weeks into BlockFi's interest-bearing crypto accounts.

TrueUSD stablecoin holders can earn up to 8 percent on tokens deposited with crypto lender Cred for a minimum of 6 months.

The Universal Protocol Alliance - a group comprised of exchange Bittrex, crypto lender Cred and others - is launching a euro-backed stablecoin that can be deposited for a return of 8 percent.

Yield, interest, dividends, rewards - whatever you want to call them, they reveal two divergent characteristics of the crypto asset space.

Devising yield strategies is common in more stable investment assets; in crypto, it feels new.

So who would regulate crypto asset interest-bearing accounts?

Could staking rewards be considered "Expectation of profit," especially when the returns are advertised as such? If so, wouldn't that nudge the tokens toward the definition of a security?