In the early days of the Internet, networks couldn’t communicate with each other. Then TCP/IP connected everything and changed the game. Today, Web3 faces a similar problem—blockchains and platforms are stuck in silos, fragmenting liquidity and making the user experience clunky. Value can’t flow freely between networks, limiting what users and markets can do.
Aggregation is the solution to this problem. It tears down the walls and unlocks the full potential of Web3. A cross-chain settlement layer is needed to break down the silos between networks and kick off a new chapter in the internet’s evolution. This layer would allow every platform to access more liquidity and users across all connected chains. Any exchange could offer any asset, regardless of the network it’s on, without the need for network integrations to list new tokens.
With aggregation, Web3 can function like the Internet does today—everything available from one place, with information, assets, and value moving around as easily as sending an email. Users could have a single universal profile and wallet that serves as their gateway to all of Web3, keeping a secure, unchangeable record of their history and credentials.
Additionally, a cross-chain settlement layer would unify the developer experience, enabling builders to create smoother, more powerful apps that are not constrained by the bottlenecks of a single chain or fragmentation of the user experience and assets. By simplifying complex cross-chain processes into easy commands, projects could tap into the entire ecosystem, accessing any asset or tool from any chain.
Real-world applications of these ideas are crucial to unlocking their full potential. In decentralized finance (DeFi), liquidity and users of dApps are currently trapped in “walled gardens” across different blockchains. A cross-chain settlement layer would enhance innovations such as unified yield farming, cheap token swaps, and opportunities in cross-chain arbitrage, making DeFi more powerful.
Tokenized real-world assets face hurdles due to the lack of cross-chain settlement between blockchains. Tokenizing an asset on one blockchain limits its interaction with incompatible networks, fragmenting the asset’s value. Solving this problem would enable true cross-chain markets, where fractional ownership and funds could be backed by a wider variety of assets.
Aggregated networks also hold massive potential for Web3 gaming and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs). Connecting gaming platforms to a single cross-chain settlement layer would create a unified ecosystem, while DePINs would benefit from easy collaboration between different systems.
The topic of interoperability and aggregation has been gaining momentum, with blockchain tech leaders working on solutions to unify Web3. The Aggregation Summit, the first event focused on blockchain aggregation, will kick off in Bangkok. A fully connected, fast, affordable, and secure Web3 is within reach through aggregation.