For almost a decade, the crypto industry has promised to reinvent global finance and bring millions “onchain.” Despite generating some truly innovative products, the industry has yet to attain those lofty goals. But now something different has arrived: A new category of onchain products built to compete with traditional finance on its own terms.
This new development has been reflected in public discussions: Financial regulators recently have begun to use the term “onchain finance” in public hearings and speeches; software developers are doing the same to describe what they are building; and even Wall Street itself has started to employ it. But what precisely are they talking about?
