The Rise of Corporate-Native Blockchains

Ape-tizers:

• Corporate-native blockchains are on the rise, with many in the pipeline set for launches in 2026.
• Corporate-native blockchains prioritize compliance, efficiency, and control.
• Questions concerning the ethos around their existence are raised frequently.
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What are corporate-native blockchain networks? 

Two words crypto bros never thought would stand side by side with each other: corporate and network-chains.

If you’re probably still riveted in the centralized world, you might assume corporate chains mean something entirely different.

However, don’t get me wrong. In this context, we are referring to corporate-native blockchains. They represent a growing trend of traditional companies building layer-1, layer-2 blockchains, either by creating their own stack from scratch or leveraging existing stacks to bring their users onchain.

But this isn’t without controversy.

You see, unlike the near-cypherpunk blockchains crypto enthusiasts are used to - those built around decentralization, censorship resistance, and transparency - corporate blockchains take a different path.

For corporate networks, the priority revolves around scalability, compliance, and control, with a focus on reinforcing traditional institutions, rather than completely replacing them with onchain financial primitives. I mean, when you look at it, who would’ve thought?

Opting to build their own rails rather than utilize existing ones has to be the clearest indicator of a value misalignment between both sides, right?

Nonetheless, whether it is financial giants experimenting with tokenized assets or supply chain conglomerates embedding traceability directly into their logistics, the corporate embrace of distributed systems is no longer hypothetical; it is, in fact,  now a reality, and 2026 might be the year where it all comes together.

Don’t just take our word for it; in the next paragraphs, we will iterate on some of these traditional heavyweights building their own distributed networks.

Mapping out corporate blockchain networks

A handful of traditional big guns have announced or commenced building their own blockchains, each with a unique approach that delivers a different form of value to their existing user base.

Unlike the usual blockchains, these corporate network chains don’t have to bootstrap users, they come with an already large traditional user base, leveraging the progress that’s been made in crypto abstraction to seamlessly onboard their users without them having to know so much about crypto entirely.

Some examples of these corporate network chains are:

Sony via Soneium

Sony stepped into crypto with Soneium, a public Ethereum Layer-2 built on the OP Stack, as part of Optimism’s Superchain.

Soneium is designed to bridge Sony’s powerhouse universe of gaming, music, finance, and entertainment, bringing them on-chain to offer more flexible and unique experiences.

Soneium is also designed to be an entire platform for creators and developers.

As far as progress goes, Sony’s intentionality can be observed through the launch of Soneium For All, a gaming incubator to seed and nurture consumer and gaming projects within their growing seven million-user network.

Stripe building Tempo

Stripe is a TradFi giant, i.e., an online payment processing and credit card company.

Alongside Paradigm, Stripe has embarked on a mission to integrate crypto, building Tempo, an EVM L1, designed to support global payments and stablecoins.

For Stripe, the goal here is simple: slash settlement times, cut costs, and integrate crypto natively into the Stripe ecosystem. While deeper technical details are still emerging, Tempo looks set to be Stripe’s strategic bridge into broader crypto functionality.

Google Cloud, GCUL (Google Cloud Universal Ledger)

If you think AI is where Google draws the line, then you’re mistaken; the giant is stepping into crypto as well.

Google Cloud is teaming up with CME Group to pilot what’s being called GCUL, a private, permissioned distributed ledger with Python-based smart contracts, designed for the nuts and bolts of institutional finance.

Universal ledger is already in private testnet. A testament to how far Google’s gotten in trying to implement this.

GCUL is being built for real-world efficiency, managing collateral, margining, settlements, and fee payments.

The goal here is to be positioned to become the pipeline for 24/7 tokenized asset workflows.

The project passed its first integration tests by March 2025, with trials involving actual market participants slated for later in the year and a service launch aimed for 2026.

Circle (USDC) gearing up for Arc

First came the Circle IPO, next is Arc, a fresh L1 public blockchain made just for stablecoin finance.

The features of Arc are a bit wild, with USDC becoming the native gas token. Arc will also feature built-in FX quoting and settlement, sub-second finality, optional privacy via confidential transfers, and full integration across the Circle suite of products.

Arc is designed to be EVM compatible, allowing developers to integrate their dApps with it, playing with a familiar environment.

Circle’s Arc is purported to have set performance targets at ~3,000 TPS and settlement in under 350 ms (and up to 10,000 TPS with four validators).

With a small validator set expected to power the magnitude of onchain transactions in USDC, concerns are that Arc is a sitting duck.  

Other notable mentions  

Apart from these examples mentioned above, a few other corporate blockchains are in the works, such as FIFA, the apex football (soccer) organization, launching a custom FIFA blockchain on an Avalanche subnet, and migrating its collectibles from Polygon and Algorand to its own native FIFA network.

J.P. Morgan, one of the US’ largest multinational corporations, is also exploring the onchain world via its own blockchain called Kinexys. Kinexys will function as a bank-led blockchain network that will facilitate 24/7 transactions, support tokenization, and support the J.P. Morgan deposit token - a stablecoin that will be used for native cash settlement and payment use cases for institutional clients.  

Another significant traditional big weight that has recently announced their foray into the world of crypto with its own distributed network is the car manufacturing giant, Toyota.

Toyota released a paper on what they call a mobile orchestration network (MON), a blockchain that will be used as an intermediary network layer to orchestrate the diverse, multi-layered relationships inherent to mobility.

Like FIFA, Toyota has opted to utilize Avalanche as foundational support for its orchestration network, citing fast finality and native interchain messaging as factors that align with MON’s philosophy of building locally and collaborating globally.

These and other corporate blockchains are set to come online in 2026-27, a year in which we think global onchain adoption might explode.

Why are corporate firms designing their own chains?

Frankly, we have the same question as you. We’re going to do our best to come up with the best reasons possible. Here’s what we think:

First and foremost, the available options don’t always fit their requirements. Today’s blockchain networks still deal with a lot of issues ranging from speed to security and decentralization concerns.

Also, most of these networks run on economic models that are quite volatile. For example, the cost of gas on Ethereum, measured in gwei, can fluctuate significantly depending on the price of ETH, the network’s underlying currency.

Furthermore, for most of these corporations, owning the infrastructure translates to owning the customer funnel and consequent data flows.

These are extremely valuable derivatives of a blockchain network that largely benefit traditional corporations. Therefore, rather than renting infrastructure on an existing L1, they view owning their own tech as infinitely more advantageous.

And of course, with most of the existing networks, customizability is not ideally achievable. This is a huge factor, given that corporate-native blockchains prioritize different features than their crypto-native counterparts. Compliance as a feature, enhanced performance, and custom economics are far greater concerns than any cypherpunk utopia.  

What would corporate chains look like in the future?

We don’t need to look far into the future to realize that corporate blockchain networks are rapidly multiplying. So, we expect to see a lot more of them in the future, providing customized onchain experiences leveraging distributed systems for their existing user base.

With most of them still in their testnet or building phase, we have yet to see convincing success in terms of adoption. Nonetheless, it is evident that they’ll absolutely not lack users, as they already come with a sophisticated sticky user base.

In the future, corporate blockchains will likely operate hybrid ecosystems, utilizing both permissioned and permissionless systems to cater to different users.

On one side, corporate chains will remain compliant (especially those with really sensitive operations and clientele); they’ll maintain strict identity checks and regulatory standards. In contrast, on the other hand, they’ll integrate with public crypto-native networks to benefit from a seamless flow of value from the decentralized and permissionless side of crypto.

Another obvious prediction concerning the future of corporate blockchain networks is that they will increasingly become better at offering more user-friendly solutions and applications than crypto-native networks, which have to deal with user anonymity and other issues that affect offering a standard consumer experience.

With decades of experience doing so in the centralized world, we would like to believe that these legacy institutions or corporations come with a truckload of experience, capital, and talent, combined with just about enough tradeoff to deliver a quality consumer experience to the end user.

Concluding thoughts

With the rise of corporate blockchains, it becomes clearer that we are no longer as early as we think. A lot of things in the funnel of progress are already set in motion.

However, there is no doubt that this development comes with trade-offs.

Like we mentioned earlier, corporate chains often prioritize compliance, control, and efficiency over decentralization, raising questions about whether these networks dilute the ethos of permissionless innovation.

Yet, for mainstream adoption, many of these “compromises” make our dear tech usable for banks, enterprises, and regulators.

Unfortunately, for purist onchain enthusiasts, there is bad news ahead - we think the lines between crypto-native and corporate-native ecosystems will continue to blur.

However, considering that there are traces of adoption of crypto-native network chains despite arguments around the number of validator sets, architectural designs, and trilemma tradeoffs within crypto-native public networks, we do think that this is a clear indicator that users may not really care as much as we think whether their transactions settle on a public L1, a permissioned consortium chain, or an enterprise subnet.

For users, as long as the app experience on these networks meets a benchmark wherein they are seamless, fast, trustworthy, and make their lives easier, they’re comfortable.

From this angle, the rise of corporate chains shows us something clear: our once-niche crypto tech is steadily creeping into global infrastructure.