Hot take: the real bull case for crypto is yield

I keep hearing people talk about the trillions sitting in U.S. money market funds and how it is “dry powder” waiting to pour into risk assets like crypto.

I don’t think that’s true. Those investors aren’t sitting on the sidelines waiting to gamble. They’re chasing safe yield they can actually trust.

Same mindset has already spilled into crypto. You can see it in how capital is moving right now. More people are parking stablecoins in places that earn: lending protocols, tokenized treasuries, on-chain credit markets.

DeFi lending deposits have been growing faster than the overall crypto market cap. So even when prices stall, yield products are still pulling in capital.

Projects like Ondo, Maple, and Aave are basically becoming crypto’s version of money markets. Tokenized treasuries, short-term credit, stablecoin pools. This is how yield-focused investors are dipping into crypto without even touching volatile assets.

Feels like the early signs of maturity. The tools are getting cleaner, the risk frameworks are improving, and DeFi is starting to look less like a casino and more like an income engine.

All my crypto friends have stopped talking about meme coins and started obsessing over farming and yield opportunities.

So maybe the next bull run isn’t about wild speculation. Maybe it’s about yield.

Curious what others think. Does crypto’s future revolve around income products like these, or will speculation always be the main driver?