In January 2025, Coinbase and EY-Parthenon surveyed 352 institutional decision-makers. The results were clear: 83% of respondents plan to increase their crypto allocations this year, and 59% intend to allocate more than 5% of their AUM to crypto assets by 2025.

A strong signal has emerged: with clearer regulations and broader use cases, institutional confidence in crypto assets is growing. As institutional participation reaches unprecedented levels, 2025 marks a key inflection point for on-chain finance.

As the foundational infrastructure for this transformation, how can blockchains better support the evolution of on-chain finance—absorbing capital, users, and complex financial instruments at scale?

This is a true contest of strength, and crypto giants are already gearing up.

In the West, the U.S. government’s increasingly crypto-friendly policies and the media presence of a pro-crypto president have brought unprecedented attention and traffic to the sector. As one of the most prominent crypto companies in the United States, Coinbase is not only a regular guest at the White House’s Digital Asset Summits but also drives the rapid growth of onchain finance through its high-performance Layer 2 network, Base, leveraging the compliant USDC stablecoin as a key enabler.

Meanwhile, in the East, a financial tokenization movement is quietly gaining steam.

HashKey, Asia’s leading digital asset financial group, has officially launched the mainnet of its purpose-built blockchain for finance and RWA: HashKey Chain. The network is designed to be secure, compliant, and efficient, aiming to bridge DeFi and TradFi by enabling tokenization of financial products.

2025: On-Chain Finance on the Brink of Breakout

The history of finance mirrors the advancement of human civilization—from Renaissance-era Italy birthing modern banking, to Wall Street thriving under the post-WWII gold standard. Each leap in financial innovation has aimed to enable more efficient capital flow and resource allocation.

Now, blockchain offers the next leap. With its decentralized, permissionless, transparent, and capital-efficient properties, it promises to dismantle legacy inefficiencies. On-chain finance may become the new engine of capital movement, driving us toward a more efficient, equitable, and sustainable financial future.

And in 2025, under clear regulatory signals and rising institutional interest, the sector stands ready to erupt.

In January 2024, we witnessed the historic approval of Bitcoin ETFs. This landmark event removed the complexities and technical barriers of directly buying, storing, and managing Bitcoin, opening the floodgates for mainstream adoption and attracting a surge of institutional capital.

According to data from Coinglass, the total net asset value (NAV) of spot Bitcoin ETFs now stands at around $100 billion. Among them, BlackRock’s IBIT holds approximately $46.3 billion, Fidelity’s FBTC holds $16.2 billion, and Grayscale’s GBTC holds about $15.8 billion.

Beyond ETFs, several on-chain finance-related sectors such as RWA (Real World Assets) and stablecoins have seen explosive growth, building crucial bridges between traditional and on-chain finance.

In 2024, the RWA sector experienced a breakout, with the total value surpassing $19 billion (excluding stablecoins), marking a year-on-year growth of over 85%. Tokenized credit, government bonds, and real estate emerged as the primary drivers.

Meanwhile, Coinglass data shows that stablecoin trading volume in 2024 has exceeded $8.3 trillion, with a total market cap over $210 billion. Traditional giants such as Stripe, PayPal, and even SpaceX have also made moves in the stablecoin space.

At the same time, Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election in November 2024 sparked heightened expectations for a crypto-friendly regulatory environment and an on-chain finance boom.
Even before taking office, Trump made his pro-crypto stance clear—delivering a keynote at Bitcoin 2024 and inspiring the meteoric rise of the $TRUMP meme coin.
Just two months into his presidency, over a dozen pro-crypto policies have already been signed, including an executive order titled “Enhancing U.S. Leadership in Digital Financial Technologies,” the overturning of the IRS’s DeFi broker rule, and the designation of BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, and ADA as strategic crypto reserves. Simultaneously, the SEC established a dedicated crypto task force and dropped lawsuits against several blockchain companies.

Under the banner of “Make America Great Again,” it’s increasingly clear that crypto is being positioned as a tool to reinforce America’s role as the beating heart of global finance.

What’s more, the U.S.’s crypto-friendly shift isn’t happening in isolation.
With on-chain finance gaining traction globally and regulators around the world being forced to respond, the U.S. framework is poised to become a reference point—potentially triggering follow-up moves across jurisdictions and accelerating the creation of clearer global regulatory standards. In Europe, the MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulation has officially come into effect, offering a structured and codified environment for crypto development across EU nations.

Compared to the Western world led by the U.S., Eastern regions have shown even fiercer competition in pushing for regulatory clarity and securing a foothold in on-chain finance.
Countries and regions such as Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, India, and Dubai have all rolled out policies to guide crypto development, with Hong Kong taking a leading role. Recently, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) released a 12-point roadmap dubbed “A-S-P-I-Re” to further attract institutional investors into the virtual asset market.

If the efficiency of capital circulation on-chain is the initial draw for traditional finance to go on-chain, then clear, open, and inclusive regulation is the key to eliminating institutional hesitation, paving the way for more aggressive strategies toward on-chain integration.

This trend is already evident: On the Western front, financial powerhouses like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and MicroStrategy have made concrete moves into blockchain. Meanwhile, in the East, major players such as Sony, Samsung, and HSBC are also actively joining the fray.

Another strong indicator of this trend is the surge in ETF applications. Multiple institutions have already submitted filings to the SEC for ETFs tied to tokens like Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL), Litecoin (LTC), Cardano (ADA), Hedera (HBAR), Polkadot (DOT), and Dogecoin (DOGE).

As institutions bring with them more capital and users, 2025 is shaping up to be a major inflection point for on-chain finance.
The key question now is: how can platforms become dominant players at the on-chain finance table?

The answer lies in mastering both external alignment and internal capability:

Externally: Embrace compliance. Regulation will become the core benchmark for institutional involvement in on-chain finance. Proactively aligning with regulators will help ease institutional concerns and create a healthier, more stable development environment.

Internally: Level up infrastructure. Continuous improvements in transaction speed, cost efficiency, user experience, and security will enhance blockchain’s role as robust financial infrastructure, capable of handling institutional-scale flows.

So, given these two paths, how are the main competitors performing?

East Meets West in Compliance: White House Insider vs. Hong Kong’s Regulatory Vanguard

Coinbase in the West, HashKey in the East.
This widely-circulated analogy in the crypto community stems not only from their expansive business empires but also from their shared commitment to regulatory compliance and strikingly similar trajectories.

As the first publicly listed crypto company in the U.S., Coinbase has steadily secured money transmitter licenses across various states, along with regulatory approvals to operate in jurisdictions like the UK, EU, Singapore, and Japan.
Though its path has seen turbulence—especially due to ongoing scrutiny from the SEC—Coinbase is now seeing clearer skies under a crypto-friendly administration. Following the dismissal of the SEC’s lawsuit against it, and with Trump’s return to the political spotlight, Coinbase has found itself in a more favorable regulatory climate.

At the inaugural White House Digital Asset Summit, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sat just three seats away from Trump—a symbolic nod to the company’s central role. In media interviews, Armstrong expressed Coinbase’s readiness to serve as a custodian for national crypto reserves, revealing that the exchange has already been working with various government departments on asset custody and trading. Moreover, Coinbase is actively engaging with lawmakers to accelerate the legislative process around stablecoins and market structure reform.

On the Eastern front, Hong Kong-based HashKey has emerged as a standout compliance champion in the eyes of many community members.
Hong Kong, once one of Asia’s “Four Little Dragons,” possesses unmatched geographical and strategic advantages, serving as a bridge between mainland China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. With a mature financial infrastructure, vibrant innovation ecosystem, and deep talent pools spanning finance, tech, and law, the city remains a prime financial hub in the Asia-Pacific region.

This fertile ground once gave rise to major crypto institutions like FTX, Amber Group, Crypto.com, and BitMEX. According to a report from InvestHK, over 1,100 fintech firms currently operate in Hong Kong, including 175 blockchain application companies and 111 digital asset firms.
In 2023, Hong Kong further cemented its blockchain ambitions by prioritizing the sector in its policy agenda. With the introduction of the Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licensing regime, as well as initiatives to open up ETFs and crypto investment funds to retail investors, Hong Kong is positioning itself as a global epicenter for on-chain finance innovation.

As one of the first firms to apply for and obtain a VASP license, HashKey has been a driving force behind this transformation. It currently holds Type 1, Type 4, and Type 9 licenses from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), expanding its regulatory coverage and service capacity under official oversight.

In just one year, HashKey has accelerated its global compliance strategy, securing major regulatory approvals across key jurisdictions:

• A Major Payment Institution License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

• A crypto exchange license in Japan

• A Class F license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA)

• An In-Principle Approval (IPA) for a VASP license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA)

Looking ahead, HashKey Group has pledged to grow its global license portfolio over the next five years, with expansion targets set on the Middle East and Europe.

Its proprietary blockchain, HashKey Chain, built specifically for on-chain finance and real-world assets (RWA), will carry forward its compliance-first DNA. The chain is designed to be a full-stack solution that bridges Web2 and Web3 through regulatory-aligned infrastructure.

This regulatory edge is translating into strong business momentum—especially in institutional adoption:
In 2024, HashKey launched the Bosera HashKey BTC ETF and Bosera HashKey ETH ETF, and forged deep partnerships with major financial institutions such as Futu Securities, Tiger Brokers, Cinda International Asset Management, and ZA Bank.
The platform now boasts over 250,000 users, with more than HKD 4.5 billion in assets deposited on-chain and over HKD 500 billion in cumulative trading volume.

Beyond their shared focus on regulatory compliance, blockchain itself serves as the foundational infrastructure for onchain finance. As both Coinbase and HashKey have launched their own Layer 2 solutions as part of their crypto asset management groups, it’s only natural that attention is increasingly turning to Base and HashKey Chain.

On-Chain Financial Infrastructure: The Tug-of-War Between Compliant Stablecoins and Tokenized Financial Products

We can observe numerous parallels between Base and HashKey Chain.

Both are emerging as next-generation foundational layers for on-chain finance, prioritizing performance optimization to better accommodate large-scale capital and user activity.

Base launched its mainnet in 2023 and has rapidly risen to become one of the most prominent L2s within less than two years. According to data from Artemis, Base saw a net capital inflow exceeding $2.5 billion in Q4 2024, with an average of 11.1 million daily transactions. Amid the 2024 AI Agent and meme token boom, Base demonstrated robust capital-attracting power and high throughput capacity to support frequent on-chain interactions from a large user base.

In comparison, HashKey Chain has only been live for just over two months, yet both its rapidly growing on-chain metrics and its institution-focused features underscore its ambition to become the go-to blockchain for finance and Real World Assets (RWAs).

Built as an Ethereum Layer 2 on the OP Stack, HashKey Chain offers EVM compatibility, high throughput, and strong scalability. Public data shows it boasts a 2-second average block time, gas fees as low as 0.1 Gwei, and TPS reaching up to 400—delivering a high-performance user experience for on-chain financial interactions.
During its testnet phase, HashKey Chain processed over 25.8 million transactions, registered more than 870,000 wallet addresses, and engaged 300,000+ community members. Since mainnet launch, it has surpassed 8.34 million transactions and 208,000 wallet addresses, according to data from hashkey.blockscout.

For institutions managing large volumes of capital, security is paramount—and HashKey Chain is built with this in mind:
Its “Smart Escape Pod” mechanism synchronizes Merkle tree state snapshots to Layer 1 at fixed intervals, providing ultimate asset security.
Meanwhile, a multi-tier DAO governance structure reinforces this—where a Security Council DAO is tasked with rapid response to threats, and a Technical Audit DAO focuses on deep analysis and verification, enhancing overall protocol security.

HashKey Chain also collaborates with Chainlink to bolster its cross-chain capabilities. Chainlink CCIP (Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol) serves as the standard cross-chain infrastructure, mitigating common vulnerabilities such as double-spending and reentrancy attacks. Additionally, Chainlink Data Streams provides real-time, low-latency, tamper-resistant market data—enabling innovation in high-frequency trading and derivative products on HashKey Chain.

Of course, in the arms race of public blockchain infrastructure, performance is only half the story. Ecosystem development—the “soft power”—is equally crucial.

In this regard, both Base and HashKey Chain are positioning themselves to capture the on-chain finance opportunity in 2025, albeit with different entry points into the ecosystem.

Base is doubling down on compliant stablecoins, especially USDC.
Base’s relationship with compliant stablecoins dates back to 2018, when Circle and Coinbase co-launched USDC—the first stablecoin supported by a centralized exchange. With regulatory compliance as a core advantage, Circle holds full licenses in the U.S., U.K., and EU, and in July 2023, was authorized to issue USDC and EURC under the MiCA framework. Most recently, Circle filed an S-1 with the U.S. SEC for a proposed IPO.

Compliant stablecoins like USDC not only serve as a stable medium of exchange but also provide a regulated bridge for swift asset conversion and liquidity—paving a compliant path for traditional finance to move on-chain.

By anchoring on USDC, Base has not only built a robust on-chain financial layer but also spurred innovation in areas like payments and RWAs. The Base ecosystem has already birthed several native stablecoin payment apps such as Peanut and LlamaPay.

HashKey Chain, on the other hand, leverages its institutional partnerships to focus on tokenizing financial products, aiming to be the premier chain for finance and RWAs.
Institutions manage massive assets and user bases. Their participation brings both capital inflows and new user adoption—key drivers for the maturity and scale of on-chain finance. HashKey Chain seeks to remove technical and regulatory barriers for institutions through efficient and compliant tokenization solutions.

A standout case is the successful deployment of the tokenized USD money market fund “CPIC Estable MMF” on HashKey Chain, launched by China Pacific Insurance’s asset management arm in Hong Kong. This showcases how financial product tokenization is central to HashKey Chain’s mission to be the top platform for finance and RWAs.

For institutions, HashKey Chain offers regulatory-friendly, secure, and performant infrastructure with low costs and a thriving DeFi ecosystem—lowering the barrier to on-chain financial product deployment. As a result, CPIC Estable MMF becomes a powerful digital asset allocation tool, enabling transparent, efficient, and precise fund management on-chain.

For DeFi users, institutional tokenization brings high-quality, yield-generating assets to the ecosystem—offering diversified yield opportunities.
And for on-chain finance as a whole, the growing presence of institutional-grade assets on HashKey Chain accelerates the convergence of traditional and decentralized finance, positioning on-chain finance as a vital pillar of the global financial system.

According to HashKey, CPIC Estable MMF surpassed $100 million in subscriptions on its first day—highlighting immense market demand for institutional asset tokenization. As HashKey Chain deepens its institutional collaborations, it is becoming the go-to platform for tokenized financial products such as bonds, funds, and stablecoins—driving exponential growth in both on-chain finance and RWA adoption.

Two paths, each with their own strengths, yet united by a shared vision—to catalyze an explosion in on-chain finance. Base and HashKey Chain have made significant breakthroughs in their chosen directions.

However, as on-chain finance is still in its early days, the real test lies in developing deeper real-world integrations—blending on-chain infrastructure with off-chain financial use cases. A longer-term perspective is needed, and perhaps their recently released 2025 roadmaps will offer more clues about what lies ahead.

Multi-Pronged Strategies: Embracing the Golden Era of On-Chain Finance

Base’s 2025 roadmap lays out a clear dual-track approach: one focused on technology, and the other on ecosystem growth.
On the tech front, Base is prioritising OnchainKit, Paymaster, and Layer 3 (L3) development to enhance the user experience.
On the ecosystem side, Base aims to integrate over 25 fiat on-ramps, onboard 25 million users and 25,000 developers, and reach $100 billion in on-chain assets within the year.

In contrast to Base’s data-driven ambitions, HashKey Chain’s 2025 roadmap centers around BTCFi, PayFi, RWA, and stablecoins. With a clear focus on institutional-grade on-chain finance, HashKey Chain outlines concrete initiatives to scale its developer base, attract large-scale capital inflows, and build compliant, finance-oriented infrastructure.

One major upcoming initiative is HashKey BTC (HBTC) — a wrapped BTC asset issued by HashKey Chain:
Targeting the trillion-dollar BTCFi market, HBTC is designed to offer users secure, compliant, and sustainable on-chain yields, including lending returns, liquidity mining, restaking rewards, and HashKey Points.

Meanwhile, staying true to its vision of becoming “the blockchain for finance and RWAs,” HashKey Chain continues to deepen its presence in the tokenization of real-world assets:
Previously, HashKey Group partnered with Cinda International to launch STBL, the first ST (security token) issued by a licensed Hong Kong financial institution. STBL is backed by a portfolio of AAA-rated money market funds (MMFs), with each token pegged to 1 USD. Transferable 24/7, STBL distributes accrued interest monthly in the form of newly issued tokens, directly to investors’ wallets. Looking ahead, STBL issuance will expand to the HashKey Chain.

Beyond MMFs, HashKey Chain also plans to tokenize traditional assets such as real estate, commodities, and fine art — unlocking liquidity and boosting market transparency.

More importantly, a HKD-pegged stablecoin backed by deep institutional collaborations is currently in the works:
HashKey Exchange has already partnered with entities like RD Technologies and Allinpay International. The HKD stablecoin will soon launch on HashKey Chain, forming the foundation for a stablecoin-driven ecosystem that supports cross-border payments and DeFi solutions — accelerating the on-chain transformation of global finance.

On the developer side, HashKey Chain’s commitment to building a thriving on-chain finance ecosystem is reflected in a range of incentive programs:
Upon the launch of its mainnet, HashKey Chain unveiled the $50M Atlas Grant Program, designed to empower high-potential Web3 projects and drive exponential growth in users and applications. Phase I concluded on January 20, 2025, with Phases II–V set to roll out across Q2, Q3, and Q4 of the year.

Complementing this, a series of HashKey Hacker Houses and Hackathons will soon kick off in key cities such as Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Thailand — providing developers with direct access to HashKey Chain’s core team, resources, and support.

From embracing compliance to leveraging key narratives like BTCFi, RWA, and stablecoins, HashKey Chain is emerging as a pivotal force bridging traditional and on-chain finance.
On one side, we have Coinbase and its high-performance Layer 2 network Base; on the other, HashKey with its RWA-first blockchain HashKey Chain. Both are advancing the on-chain finance agenda in their own ways. This East-meets-West dynamic showcases not only the diversity of paths in on-chain finance, but also signals a deeper, global shift in financial infrastructure.

As the community says:
Coinbase in the West, HashKey in the East
Base in the West, HashKey Chain in the East

In an era where regulatory clarity and institutional adoption are nearly inevitable, perhaps it’s less about competition and more about co-creation.

With San Francisco and Hong Kong as twin hubs, and with Base’s compliance-ready stablecoin ecosystem and HashKey Chain’s institutional-grade tokenized finance stack, we may very well be entering a golden age — one where both Base and HashKey Chain work in tandem to shape a new, global, on-chain financial order.

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