As capital migrates onchain—across spot, perpetuals, and emerging real-world asset (RWA) markets—the limits of first-generation DeFi are obvious. Most systems were built to host liquidity, not to route it intelligently. Traders still face fragmented venues, uneven execution, externalized MEV, and risk tooling that is not yet institutional-grade.
Centralized venues have a mirror image of constraints: custodial risk, opaque flow, regulatory friction, and uneven global access. Sophisticated participants are pushed toward non-custodial rails—without giving up the performance they expect.
The next chapter is not “pick DeFi or CeFi.” It is infrastructure that can coordinate both—routing liquidity, managing execution paths, and operating transparently at scale.