Major financial firms are building onchain finance products spanning brokerage, tokenized assets, DeFi liquidity, and blockchain infrastructure to capture transaction and management fees.
RWA & Tokenization ·
By 2026, onchain finance has expanded beyond cryptocurrency-native startups to encompass major financial institutions operating platforms with established user bases and consistent revenue streams. These firms are constructing multiple business lines—including brokerage interfaces, tokenized asset products, decentralized finance liquidity mechanisms, and blockchain infrastructure available around the clock—designed to capture transaction fees and management fees at scale.
The shift reflects institutions' recognition that onchain markets offer new fee-bearing opportunities across layers of financial infrastructure. Traditional brokerages gain interface revenue, asset managers earn fees through tokenization, yield products generate ongoing management charges, and blockchain operators monetize continuous transaction throughput. The move consolidates several revenue models that were previously siloed across separate crypto-native entities.
What remains unclear is the degree to which these institutional products will achieve meaningful adoption, or how competitive pressures and regulatory developments may reshape fee structures and business viability across these segments.