Landscape · Protocols
Key protocols & infrastructure
Non-exhaustive map of L1/L2, oracles, custody, and analytics that matter for Crypency readers.
Settlement & scaling
Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche and peers provide programmable settlement. L2s (Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, zkSync, Polygon) compete on cost and latency for payments and apps. Visa’s Apr 2026 stablecoin settlement expansion spanned nine chains—multi-chain is a partner default.
Issuance & tokenization
Stablecoin issuers (Tether, Circle, PayPal, others) connect fiat. Tokenization / transfer agents (Securitize, Ondo, Centrifuge) support RWA issuance.
Oracles, custody, analytics
Oracles (Chainlink and peers) price DeFi and RWA. Custody (Coinbase Custody, BitGo, Anchorage, bank custodians) unlocks institutions. Analytics firms (Chainalysis, Elliptic, TRM) support compliance; third-party data dashboards support research.
Crypency does not publish chain-share percentages for DeFi. Where a protocol publishes its own deposit or TVL figures, we cite that page with its as-of date.