In February of 2025 alone, public companies added over three-quarters of a billion dollars worth of Bitcoin to their coffers. That recent growth is driven by increased institutional demand for yield-generating strategies. The total value of Bitcoin wallets increased by about 2.2%, climbing to $56.7 billion. At this current Bitcoin price of $82,445, institutions very much want liquidity and do not want to sell their BTC.
By the end of Q1, Bitcoin assets increased to just under 688,000 BTC. Throughout the quarter, companies were still adding a record of 95,431 BTC in wallets. In summary, this surge is indicative of the broadening adoption of Bitcoin as a treasury asset and investors’ growing thirst for alternative yield-generating opportunities.
Institutional Demand Fuels Bitcoin Growth
Institutional interest in Bitcoin yield products has increased tremendously over the last few years. Public companies like MicroStrategy have been absolutely central in popularizing BTC as a treasury asset.
"MSTR is a very successful derivatives kind of use case based on Bitcoin […] That’s also Bitcoin finance." - Ryan Chow
Providers such as Coinbase have already released borrowing products that allow institutions to borrow $1 million against Bitcoin, greasing the wheels even more for institutional investor liquidity. Publicly traded companies grew their Bitcoin wallets by 16.1% in Q1 2025. This unprecedented increase is indicative of the increasing appetite for digital assets felt by corporate investors.
Solv Protocol's Role in Institutional Bitcoin Investment
Solv Protocol, an Issuance partner, is currently building institutional-focused infrastructure. This has included addressing regulatory and cultural requirements, including Sharia compliance.
"Sharia compliance is something that we prepared for a long time [...] you have to pass it before you really serve them through your platform." - Ryan Chow
Now, Solv Protocol has more than 25,000 BTC locked in its protocol, representing a value greater than $2 billion. Ryan Chow, co-founder and CEO of Solv Protocol expects more than 100,000 BTC to flow into ecosystems such as Solana.
Looking Ahead
Ryan Chow delivered these comments during his session at the Token2049 conference in Dubai on May 1. He pointed to the growing usefulness of Bitcoin outside its store of value narrative.
"Bitcoin as the largest asset class here, you can stake your Bitcoin to secure the network […] that makes us feel like if it is the answer to really bring utility and also use case," - Ryan Chow
Solv Protocol’s infrastructure of use cases is built with the specific needs of institutions in mind. This means tackling regulatory challenges as well as cultural issues.
