A new wave of institutional cryptocurrency adoption is surfacing as well-established fintech companies embark on creating their own blockchains.
Recently, financial services app Robinhood unveiled plans to develop a layer-2 blockchain aimed at supporting tokenized stocks and real-world assets. Following suit, Stripe announced Tempo, a payments-oriented chain developed in collaboration with Paradigm.
“This is just the start of what’s to come,” Annabelle Huang, co-founder of Altius Labs, shared with Cointelegraph in an interview. “Fintechs in Asia, Latin America, and other emerging markets, which have explored this for years, are also preparing for significant advancements.”
Huang has witnessed the gradual merging of cryptocurrency with Wall Street. Beginning her career in foreign exchange and rates trading in New York, she later joined Amber Group in Hong Kong as its managing partner, helping it grow into one of Asia’s largest crypto liquidity providers during the DeFi boom.
The emerging fintech-led blockchains face the same performance hurdles that have plagued crypto from the beginning. Wall Street firms operate in microseconds, whereas blockchains still handle transactions in seconds or, at best, milliseconds. Huang referred to this situation as the industry’s “execution bottleneck,” emphasizing that it needs to be overcome for fintech-developed chains to support institutional capital.
Execution Bottleneck in Crypto’s Path to Institutional Adoption
Since departing Amber Group, Huang has redirected her focus to resolving the execution bottleneck. At Altius Labs, she is creating a modular execution layer intended to directly integrate with existing blockchains, enhancing throughput without necessitating a complete rebuild of their architecture.
“Our objective is to enhance performance for any blockchain in a plug-and-play manner,” Huang stated. “This way, a chain can improve its block execution time and throughput without the need to redesign its entire architecture.”
She explained that this approach aims to deepen modularity in the execution layer of the blockchain stack, offering a distinct alternative to the conventional method of launching sidechains or new layer-2 solutions. By targeting the execution engine itself, Huang believes that Web3 can close the performance gap with Web2 while maintaining the decentralized characteristics of blockchains.
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On June 27, 2025, Wall Street illustrated the substantial performance disparity between modern blockchains and traditional finance infrastructure. Nasdaq’s closing auction for the annual Russell index reconstitution — an event when index funds realign their portfolios — facilitated 2.5 billion shares in merely 0.871 seconds. The exchange’s INET system claims to manage over 1 million order messages per second with latencies under 40 microseconds.
In contrast, blockchains still function at a fraction of that speed. Ethereum manages around 15 transactions per second with block times of approximately 12 seconds. Solana — one of the fastest major networks — has a roughly 400-millisecond block time and processes several thousand transactions per second in practice. Even at their best, these metrics fall short of the standards institutions seek before engaging in substantive trading activity on-chain.
Blockchains have indeed made advancements in scaling, with Ethereum L2s alleviating traffic through rollups. Solana’s next-generation validator client, Firedancer, seeks to further close this gap.
Huang asserted that the industry shouldn’t expect a surge of “Ethereum killers” or general-purpose blockchains, noting that users generally prefer to consolidate around a few dominant platforms rather than disperse across numerous new chains.
“However, within Ethereum, scalability issues persist, prompting the creation of new block spaces via sidechains. Then L2s introduced added fragmentation and complicated user experiences because of that,” she commented.
Institutional Adoption in ETFs and Treasuries
While the next wave of institutional adoption necessitates enhancements to existing blockchain networks, Wall Street hasn’t delayed in joining the digital gold rush. Many major investors have sought exposure indirectly through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or corporate treasuries. Bitcoin (BTC) funds have emerged as convenient entry points, and companies like Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) have become leveraged proxies for the asset.
This strategy hasn’t been successful for everyone. Throughout 2025, struggling firms that latched onto the “Bitcoin treasury” narrative briefly saw stock price surges, only to fall back shortly thereafter. The precarious finances of some of these firms have raised worries about what might occur if they falter amid unfavorable market conditions.
Huang mentioned that such pivots can be risky, particularly for retail investors, as not all corporate Bitcoin strategies are structured similarly. She likened the stock spikes to initial token launches — a temporary surge followed by a return to “fair value.” Nevertheless, she believes the demand for such proxies like ETFs and treasury strategies will persist.
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“Prior to MicroStrategy, there was Grayscale. Many assumed that once a Bitcoin ETF was approved, the Grayscale premium would vanish, and so would the MicroStrategy trade. Yet, a closer examination reveals that investors still favor MicroStrategy over an ETF for several reasons,” Huang explained.
“Firstly, Michael Saylor has been accumulating for a longer duration, resulting in a lower average cost basis. Secondly, they’ve conducted multiple rounds of fundraising through convertible bonds, introducing leverage. This ultimately makes MicroStrategy a somewhat leveraged investment in Bitcoin at a lower cost basis,” she continued.
Huang additionally mentioned that while ETF options are available for Bitcoin and Ether (ETH), investors seeking altcoin exposure typically resort to debt strategies instead.
Fintech Chains Are Shaping the Next Stage of Institutional Adoption
Fintech companies such as Robinhood and Stripe are paving the way for the next phase of institutional blockchain commitment. Rather than simply appending crypto tickers to trading platforms, they are now investing in their own blockchains — a significant step towards integrating digital assets into their foundational infrastructure.
The surrounding infrastructure is evolving as well. Over-the-counter desks, once subtle gateways for hedge funds to acquire Bitcoin off-exchange, are now positioning themselves as regulated liquidity providers.
This means offering the compliance, settlement, and reporting standards expected by institutional clients, further aligning crypto with Wall Street expectations.
“What we’re witnessing now — and I predict even more in the future — is a trend of institutions adopting stablecoins or even developing their own blockchains for targeted use cases,” Huang suggested.
These are discussions she was engaged in with institutional actors four years ago at Amber Group. Now, “they’re finally prepared to take action.”
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