Close Menu
ApeWatcher News
  • Home
  • Advertise
  • Headlines
  • Crypto
    • News
    • Bitcoin
    • Ethereum
    • Altcoin
    • View All
  • DeFi
  • NFT
  • Metaverse
  • Guides
  • Rates
  • Videos
  • Listing Platform
  • BSC
  • ETH
  • Listing Platform
  • BSC
  • ETH
What's Hot

Strategy (MSTR) 13F Holdings Suggest Broadening Structural Demand For BTC: Standard Chartered

May 21, 2025

Solana Chain Extension Sonic SVM Introduces New Token Burn Program

May 21, 2025

‘Hawk tuah girl’ Haliey Welch says FBI probed her ‘memecoin disaster’

May 21, 2025
X (Twitter) Telegram
  • Listing Platform
  • Home
  • BSC
  • ETH
Advertise
X (Twitter) Telegram
ApeWatcher News
  • Headlines
  • Crypto
    1. News
    2. Bitcoin
    3. Ethereum
    4. Altcoin
    5. View All

    Strategy (MSTR) 13F Holdings Suggest Broadening Structural Demand For BTC: Standard Chartered

    May 21, 2025

    Solana Chain Extension Sonic SVM Introduces New Token Burn Program

    May 21, 2025

    ‘Hawk tuah girl’ Haliey Welch says FBI probed her ‘memecoin disaster’

    May 21, 2025

    LIBRA News: Argentinian Investigation Unit Dissolved After Sharing Findings With Prosecutors

    May 21, 2025

    NYC Mayor Eric Adams launches crypto advisory council

    May 21, 2025

    Strive targets 75,000 Bitcoin from Mt. Gox claims to build Bitcoin treasury

    May 21, 2025

    Bitcoin open interest hits record high as bulls stampede toward new BTC price highs

    May 20, 2025

    Robinhood Presses SEC for Clarity on Tokenizing RWAs in Bid for On-Chain Stock Trading: Report

    May 20, 2025

    Ethereum price gained 90% the last time this indicator turned bullish

    May 20, 2025

    Whale Holding $2,190,000,000 in Bitcoin Withdraws More BTC From Binance in Accumulation Spree: Lookonchain

    May 20, 2025

    Price predictions 5/19: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, SUI

    May 19, 2025

    Hoskinson promises audit, is ‘deeply hurt’ by $600M Cardano treasury claims

    May 19, 2025

    ‘Hawk tuah girl’ Haliey Welch says FBI probed her ‘memecoin disaster’

    May 21, 2025

    Quantum Biopharma adds to crypto holdings

    May 19, 2025

    Crypto.com, Canary launch CRO fund in US

    May 19, 2025

    Community sales are the future of crypto fundraising

    May 19, 2025

    Strategy (MSTR) 13F Holdings Suggest Broadening Structural Demand For BTC: Standard Chartered

    May 21, 2025

    Solana Chain Extension Sonic SVM Introduces New Token Burn Program

    May 21, 2025

    ‘Hawk tuah girl’ Haliey Welch says FBI probed her ‘memecoin disaster’

    May 21, 2025

    LIBRA News: Argentinian Investigation Unit Dissolved After Sharing Findings With Prosecutors

    May 21, 2025
  • DeFi
  • NFT
  • Metaverse
  • Guides
  • Videos

    JPMorgan Is LYING To You About BITCOIN

    May 20, 2025

    SHOCKING Things Happening w/ Bitcoin Behind the Scenes (DON'T MISS)

    May 20, 2025

    Ripple vs. Coinbase: Circle Bidding War! Who Wins & Why It Matters?

    May 20, 2025

    Microstrategy SUED For LYING About Bitcoin

    May 20, 2025

    Crypto Is Making People Targets—And You Might Be Next

    May 20, 2025
ApeWatcher News
Home » Every chain is an island: crypto’s liquidity crisis
Every chain is an island: crypto’s liquidity crisis
Ethereum

Every chain is an island: crypto’s liquidity crisis

Coin TelegraphBy Coin TelegraphApril 19, 20250 ViewsNo Comments
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Opinion by: Jin Kwon, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Saga

Crypto has come a long way in boosting transaction throughput. New layer 1s (L1s) and side networks offer faster, cheaper transactions than ever before. Yet, a core challenge has come into focus: liquidity fragmentation — the scattering of capital and users across an ever-growing maze of blockchains.

Vitalik Buterin, in a recent blog post, highlighted how scaling successes have led to unforeseen coordination challenges. With so many chains and so much value splintered among them, participants face a daily tangle of bridging, swapping and wallet-switching. 

While these issues affect Ethereum, they also affect nearly every ecosystem. No matter how advanced, new blockchains risk becoming liquidity “islands” that struggle to connect with one another.

The real costs of fragmentation

Liquidity fragmentation means there is no single “pool” of assets for traders, investors or decentralized finance (DeFi) applications to tap into. Instead, each blockchain or side network hosts its own siloed liquidity. For a user who wants to buy a token or access a specific lending platform, this siloing introduces multiple headaches. 

Switching networks, opening specialized wallets and paying multiple transaction fees are far from seamless, especially for those less tech-savvy. Liquidity is also thinner in each isolated pool, leading to price disparities and higher slippage on trades. 

Many users resort to bridges to move capital across chains, yet these have been frequent targets for exploits, raising fear and mistrust. If it’s too cumbersome or risky to move liquidity around, DeFi fails to gain mainstream momentum. Meanwhile, projects scramble to deploy across multiple networks or risk being left behind.

Some observers worry that fragmentation could drive people back to a few dominant chains or centralized exchanges, undermining the decentralized ideals that fueled blockchain’s rise.

Familiar fixes, with persisting gaps

Solutions have emerged to tackle this tangle. Bridges and wrapped assets enable basic interoperability, but the user experience remains cumbersome. Crosschain aggregators can route tokens through a chain of swaps, yet they generally don’t merge the underlying liquidity. They only help users navigate it. 

Meanwhile, ecosystems like Cosmos and Polkadot bring interoperability within their frameworks, though they are separate realms in the broader crypto landscape.

The problem is fundamental: Each chain views itself as distinct. Any new chain or sub-network must be “plugged in” at the ground level to truly unify liquidity. Otherwise, it adds another liquidity island that users must discover and bridge into. This challenge is compounded by chains, bridges and aggregators seeing one another as competition, leading to intentional siloing and making fragmentation even more pronounced.

Integrating liquidity at the base layer

Integration at the base layer addresses liquidity fragmentation by embedding bridging and routing functions directly into a chain’s core infrastructure. This approach appears in certain layer-1 protocols and specialized frameworks, where interoperability is treated as a foundational element rather than an optional add-on. 

Recent: What are exit liquidity traps — and how to detect them before it is too late

Validator nodes automatically handle crosschain connections, so new chains or side networks can launch with immediate access to the broader ecosystem’s liquidity. This reduces reliance on third-party bridges that often introduce security risks and user friction.

Ethereum’s own challenges with heterogeneous layer-2 (L2) solutions underscore why integration is essential. Different participants — Ethereum as a settlement layer, L2s focusing on execution, and various bridging services — have their own motivations, resulting in fragmented liquidity. 

Buterin’s references to this issue highlight the need for more cohesive designs. An integrated base-layer model brings these components together at launch, ensuring that capital can flow freely without forcing users to navigate multiple wallets, bridge solutions, or rollups.

An integrated routing mechanism also consolidates asset transfers, mimicking a unified liquidity pool behind the scenes. By capturing a fraction of the overall liquidity flow rather than charging users for every transaction, such protocols reduce friction and encourage capital mobility across the network. Developers deploying new blockchains gain instant access to a shared liquidity base while end-users avoid juggling multiple tools or encountering unexpected fees. 

This emphasis on integration helps maintain a seamless experience, even as more networks come online.

Not just an Ethereum issue

While Buterin’s blog post focuses on Ethereum’s rollups, fragmentation is ecosystem-agnostic. Whether a project builds on an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible chain, a WebAssembly-based platform, or something else, the fragmentation trap arises if liquidity is fenced off. 

As more protocols explore base-layer solutions — embedding automatic interoperability into their chain design — there’s hope that future networks won’t splinter capital further but instead help unify it.

A clear principle emerges: Throughput means little without connectivity.

Users shouldn’t need to think about L1s, L2s or sidechains. They just want seamless access to decentralized applications (DApps), games and financial services. Adopting will follow if stepping onto a new chain feels identical to operating on a familiar network.

Toward a unified and liquid future

The crypto community’s focus on transaction throughput has revealed an unexpected paradox: The more chains we create for speed, the more we fragment our ecosystem’s strength, which lies in its shared liquidity. Each new chain intended to boost capacity creates another isolated pool of capital.

Building interoperability directly into blockchain infrastructure offers a clear path through this challenge. When protocols handle crosschain connections automatically and route assets efficiently, developers can expand without splintering their user base or capital. Success in this model comes from measuring and improving how smoothly value moves throughout the ecosystem.

The technical foundations for this approach exist today. We must implement them thoughtfully, with attention to security and user experience.

Opinion by: Jin Kwon, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Saga.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Read the full article here

Follow us on Google News to get the latest Updates

 
Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Posts

Ethereum price gained 90% the last time this indicator turned bullish

May 20, 2025

Whale Holding $2,190,000,000 in Bitcoin Withdraws More BTC From Binance in Accumulation Spree: Lookonchain

May 20, 2025

Price predictions 5/19: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, SUI

May 19, 2025

Hoskinson promises audit, is ‘deeply hurt’ by $600M Cardano treasury claims

May 19, 2025

US crypto funds top $7.5B inflows in 2025 as investor appetite grows

May 19, 2025

Vitalik Buterin proposes partially stateless nodes for Ethereum scaling

May 19, 2025
Add A Comment
Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Top Articles

Strategy (MSTR) 13F Holdings Suggest Broadening Structural Demand For BTC: Standard Chartered

May 21, 2025

Solana Chain Extension Sonic SVM Introduces New Token Burn Program

May 21, 2025

‘Hawk tuah girl’ Haliey Welch says FBI probed her ‘memecoin disaster’

May 21, 2025
ApeWatcher News
X (Twitter) Telegram
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sources
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact
  • Advertise
© 2025 Ape Watcher News

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.