Crypto has spent years competing to construct sooner blockchains. Ondo Finance thinks the subsequent battle will not be about constructing one other chain in any respect. As an alternative, will probably be about execution.
In response to reporting by The Block, Ondo Finance has unveiled the Ondo Community, a brand new execution layer designed to ship centralized alternate (CEX)-like buying and selling speeds whereas preserving self-custody and onchain settlement.
The launch marks a strategic shift away from Ondo Chain, as the corporate concludes that execution—not settlement—is now the most important bottleneck stopping onchain markets from competing with conventional exchanges.
“I might body it extra as an evolution, however we won’t be operating the Ondo Community and the Ondo Chain in parallel,” mentioned Ian De Bode, CEO of Ondo.
Execution Is Changing into the New Battleground
Ondo is not constructing in isolation. A rising variety of tasks are redesigning blockchain structure round one concept: execution pace issues greater than including one other settlement layer.
Hyperliquid proved that thesis in crypto-native markets, constructing one in every of DeFi’s largest buying and selling ecosystems with greater than $3 billion in TVL by delivering centralized alternate efficiency with out sacrificing self-custody.
Robinhood Chain is taking a special strategy. Since launching in July, the Ethereum Layer 2 has attracted roughly $500 million in TVL, generated greater than $9 billion in DEX buying and selling quantity, and processed round 6 million day by day transactions, specializing in tokenized shares and bringing Robinhood’s retail customers onchain.
Ondo is concentrating on a special viewers. Fairly than constructing a client blockchain or a crypto-native buying and selling venue, it’s creating infrastructure for establishments, asset managers and issuers bringing real-world property (RWAs) onchain.
If Hyperliquid is rebuilding crypto exchanges and Robinhood is rebuilding retail investing, Ondo is making an attempt to rebuild capital markets.
Why Ondo Modified Course
When Ondo first introduced Ondo Chain, the aim was to construct devoted blockchain infrastructure for tokenized monetary property.
However after creating Ondo Perps and dealing with prospects, the corporate reached a special conclusion. Settlement wasn’t the most important impediment. Execution was.
Conventional blockchains execute trades, confirm transactions and settle property on the identical ledger. Whereas that structure delivers transparency and safety, it additionally introduces latency that makes matching the efficiency of centralized exchanges troublesome.
Ondo’s new structure separates execution from settlement. Trades execute inside safe {hardware} enclaves for pace and privateness, whereas property proceed selecting Ethereum.
“The Ondo Community is a brand new kind of structure that tries to land at a special configuration in order that privateness is enabled by default, execution pace can rival centralized exchanges, whereas nonetheless sustaining the self-custodial design, verifiable equity and permissionless entry that makes blockchains so highly effective,” De Bode instructed The Block.
A Greater Alternative Than Crypto
The technique displays the fast progress of tokenization. Ondo has grow to be one of many largest issuers of tokenized U.S. Treasuries, with greater than $1.4 billion in TVL, in response to DeFiLlama. Throughout the trade, tokenized real-world property now exceed $25 billion, pushed by institutional demand for presidency debt, personal credit score, commodities and tokenized equities.
Wall Avenue is already positioning itself for that transition. BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Apollo, Robinhood, Kraken and Securitize have all expanded their tokenization efforts, whereas Citigroup estimates tokenized securities might grow to be a $5.5 trillion market by 2030.
If these property are going to commerce onchain at institutional scale, execution pace might show simply as vital as settlement.
Extra Than Perpetual Futures
The primary utility constructed on the Ondo Community is Ondo Perps, providing 24/7 perpetual futures tied to equities and commodities whereas permitting tokenized real-world property for use as collateral.
Nonetheless, Ondo says the community was designed as general-purpose infrastructure able to supporting spot markets, lending, structured monetary merchandise and different functions requiring quick, personal and verifiable execution.
Ethereum presently handles settlement, with further public blockchains anticipated to be added over time.
What Occurs to $ONDO?
Regardless of the architectural shift, the $ONDO token’s position stays unchanged.
In response to De Bode, it can proceed serving because the governance and incentive token for Ondo’s ecosystem whereas turning into more and more central because the execution community decentralizes by way of further attestors and financial safety.
For years, blockchain innovation targeted on making settlement sooner. Ondo is betting the subsequent chapter will probably be received by whoever makes execution really feel invisible.
