Opinion by: Hatu Sheikh, founder of Coin Terminal

Although blockchains and DApps are critical, crypto industry stakeholders often prioritize applications based on adoption principles and revenue distribution. DApps won’t function without their underlying chains. The markets must uphold blockchains for long-term value generation.

The value perspective is wrong 

Blockchains and DApps should work collaboratively to coordinate their functions for better usability. Instead, analysts create a binary between chains and DApps based on Web2’s structural frameworks.

In “Fat Protocols,” Joel Monegro argued that value within the internet stack comprises “thin” protocols and “fat” applications. In other words, investing in the underlying protocol technologies like TCP/IP, HTTP, and SMTP gives lower returns than applications like Google and Facebook.

Monegro further stated that the value is reversed in the “blockchain application stack.” The underlying protocol layer accumulates more value than the application layer, leading to “fat” protocols and “thin” applications. He later published an updated rejoinder to clarify “application-layer success as a requirement for protocol growth” and how value capture depends on the total addressable market.

As apps become more popular, they attract users to the underlying blockchain who use the chain’s token to interact with the app. Such demand pressure results in token price growth and, eventually, builds a strong network where blockchains capture maximum value.

A recent research report demonstrated how revenue generation parameters like onchain fees could flip Monegro’s thesis.

In 2024, blockchains controlling 70% of the total crypto industry market cap (excluding Bitcoin and stablecoins) earned $6 billion in fees. Meanwhile, DApps, with just a 30% market share, made $3.3 billion, generating 35% of total onchain fees. The trend continues in Q1 2025 as DApps recorded $1.8 billion in total fees compared to $1.4 billion for blockchains.

According to the report, apps generate real value and user interaction, as higher fees reflect increased usage rates. Since no one logs into an app just to access a blockchain, people use apps to trade, play, invest, socialize, and spend time. Thus, apps generate value and revenue opportunities.

As apps are users’ first interaction layer, they have higher demands and more growth channels. The report says: “Blockchains may have built the roads — but the apps are building the cities.”

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But without “roads,’’ it’s impossible to navigate and access “cities.’’ Thus, such a value lens to evaluate whether the markets prefer chains or apps is a myopic perspective.

Analysts and crypto industry veterans must understand blockchain’s critical role in running the crypto industry. Consequently, the crypto markets must always support blockchains irrespective of their economic value potential.

Blockchains are fundamental to crypto markets

Blockchains are the necessary trust anchor arbitrating transactions for decentralized applications through transparent and immutable ledgers. During multiparty DApp interactions, blockchains act as a truth source for tamperproof records, making chains an integral infra layer.

The chain vs. app binary argument is false because blockchains are essentially timekeepers for dApp-generated data. Such timestamped data facilitates all onchain transactions and enables people to use DApps trustlessly.

It’s irrelevant if a blockchain’s value potential is based on revenue and user adoption because that’s the task of gaming, social, and financial applications. Blockchains are the foundational layer for building applications and other user products that generate returns on investment capital.

Moreover, despite liquidity and integration challenges, the steady rise of modular app chains is another example of the importance of blockchain architecture. When resource-hungry apps consume network capacities, app chains solve the issue by functioning as independent blockchains to enhance performance and reduce latency.

Using app chains to solve a network’s bottlenecks demonstrates that apps won’t function independently and require the corresponding chain architecture. Each modular appchain thus has its own computational resources, storage capacities, and resources to prevent competing applications from slowing down performance.

These examples illustrate why crypto markets value blockchains more than standalone applications. It’s because apps won’t survive without blockchains.

“Value” doesn’t always mean financial incentives and growth metrics. Sometimes, value also comes from the market’s recognition of their cardinal role within the industry. In this market scenario, blockchains will always be much more valuable than individual applications, regardless of fees and revenue.

Opinion by: Hatu Sheikh, founder of Coin Terminal.

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.

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced the launch of regulated derivatives trading on its platform under the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).

According to a May 20 announcement, Kraken’s perpetual and fixed maturity crypto futures contracts will be available for trading by retail and institutional customers in the European Economic Area (EEA). The announcement follows the exchange acquiring an MiFID license in early February through the acquisition of a Cypriot investment firm, approved by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.

Kraken’s head of exchange, Shannon Kurtas, said, “Europe is one of the fastest-growing regions for digital asset trading and investment, with some of the most sophisticated and demanding clients and institutions.”

He added, “Clients and partners increasingly seek comprehensive offerings within a regulated framework.”

Source: Kraken Pro

Kraken had not responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comment by publication.

Release the Kraken

Kurtas said that following the deployment of the new derivatives products, “they [users] can seamlessly trade futures as part of a full suite of products” on the platform.

Derivatives, he said, will improve “capital efficiency, access to liquidity, reliability and enable sophisticated strategies and position management.” Kraken’s derivatives will be offered through a Cyprus-based MiFID II-regulated entity, Payward Europe Digital Solutions.

The launch follows Kraken completing its acquisition of the futures trading platform NinjaTrader earlier this month, as its first quarter revenue jumped 19% year-on-year to $471.7 million.

Crypto derivatives see lots of activity

Recently, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said his firm will continue to look for merger and acquisition opportunities, after acquiring crypto derivatives platform Deribit. The comments came after the publicly listed US crypto exchange earlier this month agreed to acquire Deribit, one of the world’s biggest crypto derivatives trading platforms.

Major crypto exchange Gemini has also recently received regulatory approval to expand crypto derivatives trading across Europe. Gemini’s head of Europe, Mark Jennings, said in a May 9 statement:

“Once we commence business activities, we will be able to offer regulated derivatives throughout the EU and EEA [European Economic Area] under MiFID II.”

Decentralized finance platform Synthetix also plans to venture further into crypto derivatives with plans to re-acquire the crypto options platform Derive. The transaction is subject to approval from both the Synthetix and Derive communities.

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Robinhood submitted a 42-page proposal to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), calling for a national framework to regulate tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).

The brokerage is seeking to modernize financial infrastructure by making tokenized assets legally equivalent to their traditional counterparts and enabling compliant onchain settlement, Forbes reported on May 20.

In the proposal, Robinhood also revealed plans for creating the Real World Asset Exchange (RRE), a trading platform offering offchain trade matching and onchain settlement for efficiency and transparency.

Robinhood is advocating for uniform federal standards to replace the patchwork of state-level securities regulations that currently apply. The platform would also integrate Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) tools through partners like Jumio and Chainalysis to meet global compliance expectations.

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Robinhood asks for token-asset equivalence

A key feature of the proposal is the push for token-asset equivalence. Under Robinhood’s plan, a token representing a US Treasury bond, for instance, would be treated as the bond itself, not a derivative or synthetic product.

That would allow institutions and broker-dealers to handle tokenized RWAs within the existing regulatory system, potentially streamlining custody, trading and settlement processes.

Source: Cointelegraph

Technically, RRE would be built on a dual-chain architecture utilizing Solana and Base, according to an overview of the proposal by Franklin Elevator. The system is designed to combine high-frequency offchain trade matching with onchain settlement.

Franklin Elevator said Robinhood projects the platform will achieve sub-10 microsecond matching latency and throughput of up to 30,000 transactions per second.

This could compress the US capital markets’ standard settlement time from T+2 to T+0, cutting trading costs by an estimated 30% annually.

“RWA tokenization represents a new paradigm for institutional asset allocation. Robinhood is committed to leading this trend under a compliant framework,” Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said.

Cointelegraph reached out to Robinhood for comment, but they hadn’t responded by publication time.

Related: SEC Chair: Blockchain ‘holds promise’ of new kinds of market activity

Tokenization gains momentum

Robinhood’s proposal comes amid a renewed wave of interest in RWA tokenization, with major players from both traditional finance and crypto making headlines last week.

On April 30, BlackRock filed to create a blockchain-based share class for its $150 billion Treasury Trust Fund, allowing a digital ledger to mirror investor ownership. On the same day, Libre revealed plans to tokenize $500 million in Telegram debt via its new Telegram Bond Fund.

On May 1, MultiBank Group inked a $3 billion tokenization deal with UAE real estate firm MAG and blockchain provider Mavryk.

“The recent surge isn’t arbitrary. It’s happening because everything’s lining up,” Eric Piscini, CEO of Hashgraph, told Cointelegraph. “Rules are getting clearer in major markets. The tech is stronger, faster, and ready to scale. And big players are actually doing it,” he added.

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