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 change (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 largest bottleneck stopping onchain markets from competing with conventional exchanges.
“I would body it extra as an evolution, however we is not going to be working 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 thought: execution velocity issues greater than including one other settlement layer.
Hyperliquid proved that thesis in crypto-native markets, constructing one among DeFi’s largest buying and selling ecosystems with greater than $3 billion in TVL by delivering centralized change efficiency with out sacrificing self-custody.
Robinhood Chain is taking a special method. 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 every day transactions, specializing in tokenized shares and bringing Robinhood’s retail customers onchain.
Ondo is concentrating on a special viewers. Relatively 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 attempting to rebuild capital markets.
Why Ondo Modified Course
When Ondo first introduced Ondo Chain, the objective was to construct devoted blockchain infrastructure for tokenized monetary property.
However after growing Ondo Perps and dealing with clients, the corporate reached a special conclusion. Settlement wasn’t the largest 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 velocity and privateness, whereas property proceed deciding on 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 velocity can rival centralized exchanges, whereas nonetheless sustaining the self-custodial design, verifiable equity and permissionless entry that makes blockchains so highly effective,” De Bode advised The Block.
A Larger Alternative Than Crypto
The technique displays the speedy 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, based on 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 velocity could show simply as necessary as settlement.
Extra Than Perpetual Futures
The primary software 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.
Nevertheless, Ondo says the community was designed as general-purpose infrastructure able to supporting spot markets, lending, structured monetary merchandise and different purposes requiring quick, personal and verifiable execution.
Ethereum at the moment 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 function stays unchanged.
In response to De Bode, it would proceed serving because the governance and incentive token for Ondo’s ecosystem whereas changing 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 likely be received by whoever makes execution really feel invisible.
