Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) topped $82,000 Wednesday morning as the DTCC announced it will pilot tokenized equities trading in July with over 50 institutions including BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS).

DTCC Moves Faster Than Expected

The DTCC pilot aligns with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins‘ Project Crypto initiative to bring traditional assets on-chain. 

Last year, the DTCC received a no-action letter from the SEC and announced plans to tokenize everything.

Sid Powell, founder of Maple Finance, noted the speed caught everyone off guard given how slowly large organizations typically move. 

The DTCC appears to be racing crypto exchanges to tokenize equities before crypto platforms start offering tokenized securities.

“Can tradfi tokenize equities and bring crypto traders back to those venues before the crypto exchanges start offering the tokenized equities?” Powell asked at Consensus Miami 2026.

Bitcoin Miners Pivot To AI, Sell Holdings

Powell revealed that Bitcoin miners are selling their holdings to fund AI infrastructure buildouts rather than holding for higher prices. 

Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) recently made a major acquisition, selling Bitcoin and paying off convertible notes to pivot fully toward AI.

Miners are abandoning the Bitcoin treasury company model that Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) pioneered. 

The equity markets are rewarding AI plays with bigger multiples, prompting miners to make the calculated decision to sell Bitcoin and chase higher valuations.

Powell’s Maple Finance is pitching miners and treasury companies to borrow against Bitcoin at 6% or less instead of selling. 

He argues it makes more sense to hold Bitcoin while closer to 52-week lows than highs, fund AI buildouts with cheap loans, and sell Bitcoin later at better prices.

Institutional Lending Rates Heading Lower

Bitcoin-backed loan rates have dropped from 10% in early 2025 to 6% today. Powell expects rates to eventually reach the low 4% range as the market becomes more efficient.

The space remains undersupplied with all major lenders being crypto-natives including Maple, Tether (CRYPTO: USDT), Galaxy, and Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN). Traditional money hasn’t entered the sector yet, keeping rates elevated.

Powell predicted that within three years, registered investment advisors could allocate client money to on-chain vaults offering yield through Bitcoin-backed lending and carry trades. 

The CLARITY Act would accelerate this adoption by providing regulatory clarity around reporting standards and custody.

Meanwhile, Maple Finance is expanding beyond crypto-backed loans into real-world asset credit, targeting fintech lenders, card issuers, and small business loan securitizations. Powell set a goal to complete the first fintech asset-backed loan within six months.

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