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Every Fintech Firm Will Run Its Own Blockchain `in Next Five Years:’ Optimism

Published

3 месяца ago

18 июня, 2025

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It’s only a matter of time until every cryptocurrency exchange and fintech firm is running its own blockchain, according to OP Labs, builder of Ethereum overlay protocol Optimism.

The logic is straightforward and simple, says OP Labs head of product, Sam McIngvale, pointing to the runaway success of Coinbase’s layer-2 (L2) network Base since its debut in 2023.

For a start, Base has accrued an incredible ecosystem of users and developers to back the exchange, McIngvale said. But the biggest no-brainer is how a system like Base, combined with Coinbase’s bitcoin-backed loans, allows dormant crypto assets sitting in custody to be monetized by lending them out, he added.

Base was built using Optimism’s OP Stack, a software product that helps users to develop layer-2 blockchains that work with Ethereum but provide faster, cheaper transactions. McIngvale said Base’s success, it’s the largest layer 2 by a number of metrics including total value locked, is an illustration of how the industry is likely to develop.

“I expect every crypto exchange and every fintech company to run their own blockchain in the next five years,” McIngvale said in an interview. “If you own bitcoin on Coinbase, in one button, they will take that bitcoin, move it to Base, which then lets you borrow USDC from it. And now you can go do whatever you want with that USDC.”

Both Optimism and rival Arbitrum assume a transaction is valid — hence “optimistic” — with potential fraud detected through permissionless fault proofs. Optimistic rollups boost the throughput of Ethereum’s base layer by processing transactions off-chain to reduce the computation load, deriving security by publishing transaction results on the underlying, or layer-1, blockchain. Another approach is to use zero-knowledge proofs to create rollups that publish cryptographic proofs of validity for off-chain transactions.

McIngvale, who was instrumental in building the custody business at Coinbase, makes the further point that simply holding crypto in cold storage on a platform works out relatively expensive.

“Traditionally, there’s been a cost to custody a lot of crypto, because of all the security implications,” McIngvale said. “Unlike custodying equities, where you don’t really pay for that, those equities are lent out and things happen to them under the hood. Crypto is still much more nascent, but it’s moving in that direction.”

There’s clearly been a bit of Base envy happening in crypto land. Global exchange Kraken has introduced Ink, a layer-2 blockchain that also uses Optimism, as have Bybit, Bitget and OKX. Fintech firms like Robinhood, for example, are also exploring their own L2s linked to Ethereum.

Optimism’s modular vision of an interoperable “Superchain” would ideally allow users to go from one blockchain to another just as their browser moves from one website to another, McIngvale said.

“Early adopters in crypto were way more willing to put up with kind of crappy UX,” McIngvale said. “People would wait 12 seconds for something to confirm and pay $50, because it was this new technology that they were exploring, probably akin to being online in the mid 90s. Like, it was painful.”

Business

Crypto Trading Firm Keyrock Buys Luxembourg’s Turing Capital in Asset Management Push

Published

15 часов ago

16 сентября, 2025

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Crypto trading firm Keyrock said it’s expanding into asset and wealth management by acquiring Turing Capital, a Luxembourg-registered alternative investment fund manager.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, marks the launch of Keyrock’s Asset and Wealth Management division, a new business unit dedicated to institutional clients and private investors.

Keyrock, founded in Brussels, Belgium and best known for its work in market making, options and OTC trading, said it will fold Turing Capital’s investment strategies and Luxembourg fund management structure into its wider platform. The division will be led by Turing Capital co-founder Jorge Schnura, who joins Keyrock’s executive committee as president of the unit.

The company said the expansion will allow it to provide services across the full lifecycle of digital assets, from liquidity provision to long-term investment strategies. «In the near future, all assets will live onchain,» Schnura said, noting that the merger positions the group to capture opportunities as traditional financial products migrate to blockchain rails.

Keyrock has also applied for regulatory approval under the EU’s crypto framework MiCA through a filing with Liechtenstein’s financial regulator. If approved, the firm plans to offer portfolio management and advisory services, aiming to compete directly with traditional asset managers as well as crypto-native players.

«Today’s launch sets the stage for our longer-term ambition: bringing asset management on-chain in a way that truly meets institutional standards,» Keyrock CSO Juan David Mendieta said in a statement.

Business

Crypto Trading Firm Keyrock Buys Luxembourg’s Turing Capital in Asset Management Push

Published

15 часов ago

16 сентября, 2025

admin

Crypto trading firm Keyrock said it’s expanding into asset and wealth management by acquiring Turing Capital, a Luxembourg-registered alternative investment fund manager.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, marks the launch of Keyrock’s Asset and Wealth Management division, a new business unit dedicated to institutional clients and private investors.

Business

Gemini Shares Slide 6%, Extending Post-IPO Slump to 24%

Published

15 часов ago

16 сентября, 2025

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Gemini Space Station (GEMI), the crypto exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has seen its shares tumble by more than 20% since listing on the Nasdaq last Friday.

The stock is down around 6% on Tuesday, trading at $30.42, and has dropped nearly 24% over the past week. The sharp decline follows an initial surge after the company raised $425 million in its IPO, pricing shares at $28 and valuing the firm at $3.3 billion before trading began.

On its first day, GEMI spiked to $45.89 before closing at $32 — a 14% premium to its offer price. But since hitting that high, shares have plunged more than 34%, erasing most of the early enthusiasm from public market investors.

The broader crypto equity market has remained more stable. Coinbase (COIN), the largest U.S. crypto exchange, is flat over the past week. Robinhood (HOOD), which derives part of its revenue from crypto, is down 3%. Token issuer Circle (CRCL), on the other hand, is up 13% over the same period.

Part of the pressure on Gemini’s stock may stem from its financials. The company posted a $283 million net loss in the first half of 2025, following a $159 million loss in all of 2024. Despite raising fresh capital, the numbers suggest the business is still far from turning a profit.

Compass Point analyst Ed Engel noted that GEMI is currently trading at 26 times its annualized first-half revenue. That multiple — often used to gauge whether a stock is expensive — means investors are paying 26 dollars for every dollar the company is expected to generate in sales this year. For a loss-making company in a volatile sector, that’s a steep price, and could be fueling investor skepticism.