The interest of institutions in generating revenue from their bitcoin holdings is gaining momentum, and financial platform Mezo has announced its entry into the market with a solution to help institutions earn returns from what was once considered a passive asset. Mezo Prime is introducing segregated vaults, known as Enclaves, which enable institutions to earn yield on their bitcoin holdings stored in custody with Anchorage Digital Bank. This new product reflects a shift in how institutions perceive the largest cryptocurrency, with many now seeking to utilize it as a capital-generating asset. The emergence of bitcoin-native yield infrastructure has driven this change, with projects such as Rootstock and Babylon developing mechanisms that allow BTC to be used in lending, collateralized borrowing, and other financial strategies within the Bitcoin ecosystem.
The Enclaves are designed to meet the institutional requirements for asset segregation, reporting, and risk controls, which have historically limited participation in crypto lending and decentralized finance. The project has received 250 BTC in funding from Bullish, which is also among the first users, deploying part of its treasury into the product while maintaining its existing custody framework. Bitcoin deposited into the vaults can be locked to earn protocol fees or used as collateral to borrow MUSD, a bitcoin-backed stablecoin, without being rehypothecated. Although institutional adoption of these products is still in its early stages and yields are relatively low compared to other crypto assets, projects like Mezo demonstrate that institutions are starting to view bitcoin as a productive financial asset, rather than just a digital equivalent to gold.