The Rise of Enterprise-Native Blockchains: Why They're Building Their Own

Author: Ollie, Crypto Researcher; Translation: Jinse Finance xiaozou

No one in the crypto world likely anticipated the merging of these two terms: enterprise and network-chains. If you're still stuck in a centralized world, you might think "enterprise chain" is a completely different concept.

But don't get me wrong. We're talking about enterprise-native blockchains, where we're seeing a growing trend: traditional enterprises are building layer-1 or layer-2 blockchains, either by building their own technology stacks or leveraging existing infrastructure, to bring users onto the blockchain world.

However, this isn't an easy road. Unlike the almost cypherpunk-esque blockchains familiar to crypto enthusiasts—built around decentralization, censorship resistance, and transparency—enterprise blockchains have taken a completely different path. For enterprise networks, priorities have always revolved around scalability, compliance, and control, centered around strengthening traditional institutions rather than completely replacing them with on-chain financial primitives. On second thought, who could have predicted this development? Choosing to build their own channels rather than using existing infrastructure is undoubtedly a clear sign of a misalignment in values, isn't it? Nevertheless, whether it's financial giants experimenting with tokenized assets or supply chain groups embedding traceability directly into logistics systems, enterprises embracing distributed systems is no longer hypothetical—it's a reality, and 2026 may be the year when everything converges. Below, we'll detail some examples of traditional industry giants that are building their own distributed networks.

1. Mapping the Enterprise Blockchain Network

Some traditional industry giants have announced plans to build their own blockchains or have already started building them, each using a unique approach to provide different forms of added value to existing user groups.

Unlike conventional blockchains, these enterprise network chains do not need to cultivate users from scratch - they already have a large traditional user base, and with the progress made in the field of cryptographic abstraction, they can seamlessly guide users to the chain without requiring them to have a deep understanding of cryptographic technology.

The following are typical cases of enterprise network chains:

(1) Sony enters the market through Soneium

Sony entered the crypto field through Soneium, a public Ethereum second-layer network built on OP Stack, which is part of the Optimism superchain system. Soneium aims to connect Sony's powerful ecosystems across gaming, music, finance, and entertainment, bringing them to the blockchain to provide more flexible and unique experiences. Soneium is also designed as a complete platform for creators and developers. Sony's clear intentions can be seen with the launch of the "Soneium For All" initiative, a gaming incubator designed to foster consumer and gaming projects within its growing network of seven million users.

（2） Stripe builds Tempo

Stripe is a traditional financial giant, an online payment processing and credit card company.

Stripe, in partnership with Paradigm, has embarked on a mission to integrate cryptography and is building an EVM layer-one blockchain called Tempo, designed to support global payments and stablecoins.

For Stripe, the goal is clear: significantly reduce settlement times, reduce costs, and natively integrate cryptography into the Stripe ecosystem. While further technical details are still being revealed, Tempo will clearly serve as Stripe's strategic bridge to broader crypto capabilities. (3) Google Cloud's GCUL (Google Cloud General Ledger) If you think AI is the frontier of Google, you're wrong—the giant is simultaneously entering the crypto space. Google Cloud is working with CME Group to pilot GCUL, a private, permissioned distributed ledger based on Python smart contracts designed for the core operating mechanisms of institutional finance. General Ledger has entered the private testnet phase, confirming Google's progress in this area. GCUL manages collateral, margin, settlement, and fee payments with the goal of improving efficiency in the real world. Its purpose is to become the foundational pipeline for 24/7 uninterrupted tokenized asset workflows.

The project passed its first integration test in March 2025 and plans to conduct a trial run with real market participants later that year, with the goal of officially launching the service in 2026.

(4) Circle (USDC) Prepares Arc

Following Circle’s IPO, its next-generation product Arc is about to be launched - a new Layer-1 public blockchain built specifically for stablecoin finance.

Arc’s functional design is quite groundbreaking: USDC will become the native gas token, while also having built-in foreign exchange quotation and settlement functions, achieving sub-second final confirmation, implementing optional privacy solutions through confidential transmission, and being fully integrated with Circle’s full range of products. Arc is designed to be EVM-compatible, allowing developers to integrate their dApps into the network and develop within a familiar environment. Circle Arc reportedly targets performance of approximately 3,000 TPS and settlement speeds under 350 milliseconds (reaching 10,000 TPS with four validators). Given that only a small number of validators are expected to support large-scale USDC on-chain transactions, concerns have arisen that Arc could become a vulnerable target.

(5) Other projects worth noting

In addition to the above cases, there are several enterprise blockchains being promoted: for example, the top football organization FIFA is building a customized FIFA blockchain on the Avalanche subnet and migrating its collectibles from Polygon and Algorand to its own FIFA native network.

JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest multinational companies in the United States, is also exploring the on-chain world through its own blockchain Kinexys. Kinexys will serve as a bank-led blockchain network that supports 24/7 uninterrupted transactions, realizes asset tokenization, and runs the JPMorgan Deposit Token - a stablecoin for native cash settlement and payment scenarios for institutional clients.

Another traditional industry giant that recently announced its entry into the crypto field by building its own distributed network is the car manufacturer Toyota. Toyota has released a white paper on the Mobility Orchestration Network (MON), a blockchain that will serve as an intermediary network layer to coordinate the diverse and multi-layered relationships inherent in the mobility sector. Similar to FIFA, Toyota has chosen to leverage Avalanche as the foundation for its coordination network, citing features like fast finality and native cross-chain messaging as highly aligned with MON's "build locally, collaborate globally" philosophy. These and other enterprise blockchains are expected to launch between 2026 and 2027, a year we believe could see explosive growth in global on-chain applications. 2. Why do businesses build their own blockchains? Frankly, we share your question. We'll do our best to explain it. Here are our main reasons: First, existing options don't always meet their needs. Current blockchain networks still face numerous challenges, including concerns about speed, security, and decentralization. Furthermore, most networks operate under highly unstable economic models. For example, gas costs on Ethereum, denominated in gwei, fluctuate wildly with the price of ETH, the network's underlying currency. More importantly, for most businesses, controlling infrastructure means controlling the customer funnel and the resulting data flows. These are valuable derivative benefits of blockchain networks, primarily benefiting traditional businesses. Therefore, rather than renting infrastructure on existing L1s, they see building their own technology as a vastly superior option. Of course, most existing networks cannot meet ideal customization requirements. This is a key factor, given that enterprise-native blockchains prioritize different characteristics than crypto-native chains: strong regulatory compliance, coupled with enhanced performance and customized economic models, far outweigh any cypherpunk utopian visions. 3. What will the future of enterprise chains look like? We don't have to look far ahead to recognize that enterprise blockchain networks are rapidly proliferating. Therefore, we expect more of these networks to emerge, leveraging distributed systems to provide customized on-chain experiences for their existing user base. Since most enterprise chains are still in the testnet or construction phase, we haven't yet seen convincing success stories. However, it's clear that they will undoubtedly have users, as they already have a mature and highly engaged user base. In the future, enterprise blockchains are likely to operate hybrid ecosystems, leveraging both permissioned and permissionless systems to serve different user groups. On the one hand, enterprise chains will maintain compliance (especially in scenarios involving sensitive businesses and customers) and uphold strict identity verification and regulatory standards. On the other hand, they will integrate with crypto-native public networks, reaping the benefits of seamless value transfer within a decentralized, permissionless crypto ecosystem. Another clear trend regarding the future of enterprise blockchains is their increasing proficiency in providing solutions and applications that are more user-friendly than crypto-native networks. Crypto-native networks struggle to provide a standardized consumer experience due to challenges such as user anonymity. We believe that these traditional institutions or enterprises, with decades of experience in the centralized world, possess a wealth of experience, capital, and talent. By making the right trade-offs, they will ultimately deliver a high-quality consumer experience for end users. 4. Conclusion With the rise of enterprise blockchains, it's become increasingly clear that the crypto industry is no longer in the early stages we envisioned. Many elements of this evolution have already begun. However, this development undoubtedly comes with trade-offs. As mentioned earlier, enterprise chains often prioritize compliance, control, and efficiency over decentralization, raising questions about whether these networks dilute the spirit of permissionless innovation. However, for mainstream applications, many of these compromises are precisely what enable our cherished technology to be adopted by banks, businesses, and regulators. Unfortunately, the outlook for chain purists is less encouraging—we believe the lines between crypto-native and enterprise-native ecosystems will continue to blur.

However, considering that despite the debate about the number of validator nodes, architectural design, and the trilemma of crypto-native public networks, crypto-native network chains are still showing signs of application, we do think this clearly shows that users may not care as much as we thought whether their transactions are settled on public L1, permissioned consortium chains, or enterprise subnets.

For users, as long as the application experience on these networks reaches the baseline of seamless, fast, reliable, and improving the convenience of life, they will accept it with peace of mind.

From this perspective, the rise of enterprise chains shows us a clear trend: the once niche crypto technology is steadily penetrating the global infrastructure.