According to @jessepollak, a major trend is emerging where every crypto exchange and fintech firm is expected to launch its own layer-2 blockchain within the next five years, a prediction from OP Labs' Sam McIngvale. This movement is heavily influenced by the success of Coinbase's Base network, built on Optimism's (OP) OP Stack, which enables the monetization of custodied assets like Bitcoin (BTC) for lending. In other strategic shifts, Polygon (MATIC) co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has taken over as CEO of the Polygon Foundation, redirecting focus to the AggLayer for cross-chain liquidity and retiring its zkEVM network. Additionally, the Ethereum (ETH) Foundation has implemented a new treasury policy, capping annual operational expenses at 15% to concentrate on critical deliverables for 2025-2026. For Bitcoin (BTC), the upcoming Bitcoin Core 30 release will significantly increase the OP_RETURN data limit, impacting the on-chain data and inscriptions ecosystem.

According to @jessepollak, OP Labs, the developer behind Optimism (OP), predicts that every crypto exchange and fintech firm will launch its own blockchain within the next five years. This trend is driven by the success of Coinbase's Layer-2 network, Base, which was built using the OP Stack and enables the monetization of custodied assets, such as lending out Bitcoin (BTC) to borrow USDC. The source notes that major exchanges like Kraken, Bybit, and OKX are already developing their own L2 solutions. This development is part of a larger trend in asset tokenization, which is evolving from stablecoins and tokenized money market funds (like BUIDL and ONDO) to more complex instruments like structured credit and private funds. The key trading implication is that tokenization can bring significant transparency and liquidity to traditionally opaque and illiquid markets, with smart contracts automating processes and providing real-time data to investors.