Crypto’s Forever Dividends: 3 Digital Assets I’m Never Selling

Forget traditional income stocks—crypto's passive income revolution is here to stay.

Yield-Generating Protocols

Staking rewards slash traditional dividend yields—Ethereum's merge pushed validator APRs past 6% while Wall Street struggles with 3% averages. Compound's lending markets deliver variable yields that make savings accounts look prehistoric.

Governance Token Cashflows

DAO treasury distributions bypass corporate dividend committees entirely. Uniswap's fee switch proposal could funnel billions directly to token holders—no quarterly board approvals required.

DeFi Blue-Chip Strategies

Liquidity mining rewards outperform S&P dividends by 400+ basis points during bull markets. Aave's stablecoin pools consistently generate double-digit yields while traditional finance fights over fractional percentages.

Of course, these aren't your grandfather's dividend stocks—smart contracts don't care about Fed meetings or earnings calls. The yields are real, the risks are realer, and the traditional finance world still thinks we're playing with magic internet money.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. AbbVie

Dividend Kings, an elite group of stocks that have increased their dividends for at least 50 consecutive years, are natural candidates to buy and hold. I think(ABBV 0.19%) is one of the best Dividend Kings of all. The drugmaker has increased its dividend for 53 consecutive years. Its forward dividend yield is 2.95%, which is lower than the average over the last five years only because AbbVie's stock has performed really well.

AbbVie makes therapies that target over 75 conditions. Its top-selling products treat autoimmune diseases, cancer, and neurological disorders. With an aging population, I expect the demand for SAFE and effective drugs for these therapeutic areas will continue to grow over the next few decades.

Probably the biggest risk for an established pharmaceutical company like AbbVie is that it won't be able to successfully navigate a patent cliff. However, AbbVie has already demonstrated its ability to handle key patent expirations with ease.

Humira was once the top-selling drug in the world, but its sales began to plunge after biosimilar rivals entered the U.S. market in 2023. AbbVie didn't skip a beat, though. The company already had two successors to Humira on the market. It had also reduced its dependence on its top blockbuster drug through strategic acquisitions and internal development. I'm confident that AbbVie will be able to survive and thrive when future losses of exclusivity come, too.

2. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

(BIP -0.39%)has grown its distribution by a compound annual growth rate of 9% over the last 16 years. Its distribution yield tops 5.5%. That's the kind of income that many investors WOULD love to keep flowing and growing. I know I do.

The good news is that Brookfield Infrastructure is targeting average annual distribution growth of between 5% and 9%. Even better news is that its business should support this growth.

This limited partnership owns cell towers, data centers, electricity transmission lines, pipelines, rail, terminals, toll roads, and other infrastructure assets on five continents. These assets generate steady cash flow, with 85% of Brookfield Infrastructure's funds from operations (FFO) contracted or regulated.

What I especially like about Brookfield Infrastructure, though, is its overall strategy. The LP buys infrastructure assets when they're valued attractively. It enhances the value of those assets by managing them well. And when the opportunity arises, Brookfield sells mature assets and recycles the cash into new investments. This approach should work for a long time to come.

3. Realty Income

's (O 0.17%) forward dividend yield of 5.45% isn't too far behind Brookfield Infrastructure's distribution yield. The real estate investment trust (REIT) also has an impressive track record, with 30 consecutive years of dividend increases and 132 monthly dividend increases since listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1994.

Real estate can be a volatile market. However, Realty Income has demonstrated remarkable stability through up and down economic cycles. It has even delivered a positive operational return (the sum of dividend yield and adjusted FFO) for 29 consecutive years.

Importantly, Realty Income's portfolio is well diversified. It owns more than 15,600 properties spread across every U.S. state, the U.K. and seven European countries. The REIT's tenants represent 91 industries.

I expect Realty Income to generate solid growth over the long term, too. Its total addressable market is around $14 trillion. Roughly $8.5 trillion of this opportunity is in Europe, where the REIT faces minimal competition.