Financial institutions are increasingly exploring blockchain technology for its ability to streamline settlement processes, enable real-time transfers, and support the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) such as securities, credit, bonds, and real estate. The appeal of blockchain lies in its enhanced efficiency, transparency, and automation potential for financial transactions. However, adoption for institutions involves overcoming challenges well beyond simple API integration. These include navigating regulatory and data privacy issues, lack of standardization, operational risks related to custody and identity, and integrating with legacy systems. As traditional finance (TradFi) deepens its interest in tokenized RWAs and decentralized finance (DeFi), partnering with third-party blockchain infrastructure providers becomes essential to circumvent blockchain’s technical and operational complexities. Five leading infrastructure companies are driving institutional adoption by making blockchain accessible and compliant for TradFi: **Fireblocks** Fireblocks is a leading digital asset infrastructure provider offering a secure, scalable platform to streamline custody, tokenization, payments, settlement, and trading across diverse use cases. Its security rests on multi-layer technology combining multi-party computation (MPC), hardware isolation, and policy-based governance to protect private keys and reduce operational risks against internal and external threats. Fireblocks facilitates secure, compliant custody, transfer, and issuance of digital assets for asset managers, fintech firms, and banks. It also offers extensive automation and workflows connecting over 1, 800 liquidity partners and counterparties, simplifying tokenization, payments, and trading launches. Trusted by 2, 000+ organizations—including BNY Mellon, Galaxy, and Revolut—Fireblocks secures more than $10 trillion in digital asset transactions across 100 blockchains and 300 million wallets. **Chainlink** Chainlink is known for its blockchain abstraction layer that enables universal smart contract connectivity through blockchain-agnostic decentralized oracles. It tackles data availability, trust-minimized automation, and interoperability challenges crucial for blockchain, DeFi, and RWA tokenization adoption. Acting as an intermediary between blockchains and TradFi systems, Chainlink delivers verified pricing, cross-chain interoperability, workflow automation, and real-world integrations via partnerships with SWIFT and banks. This infrastructure enables institutions to securely pilot and scale blockchain-based applications and assets. Supporting over $21 trillion in value, Chainlink powers some of the most influential institutions offering blockchain solutions. **Applied Blockchain** With a decade of experience, Applied Blockchain specializes in enterprise blockchain and privacy technologies, assisting organizations across industries like energy, healthcare, and supply chain to leverage privacy-focused blockchain applications.

Its services range from ideation and consultancy to architecture, design, development, and ongoing support, focusing on compliant and scalable privacy implementations. Applied Blockchain has partnered with major financial institutions such as Barclays, Bank of America, Grupo Bancolombia, and Shell—helping Shell create the world’s first blockchain-based oil derivatives trade. In collaboration with RiskBlocks, it built a blockchain-powered marketplace streamlining capital risk transfers with full lifecycle transparency. **Consensys** Consensys is a prominent Ethereum-oriented software firm providing infrastructure, tools, and enterprise-grade services for institutions to build, deploy, and manage blockchain applications confidently. Its flagship offerings include MetaMask Institutional and Infura, delivering secure wallet access, scalable infrastructure, and developer tools to interact with Ethereum and other EVM-compatible networks like Polygon and BNB Smart Chain. By offering custody solutions with granular controls and compliance features alongside consulting and white-label services, Consensys helps banks and asset managers launch tokenized assets, stablecoins, and digital capital market infrastructure. This holistic support lowers technical barriers and enables institutions to capitalize on blockchain advantages within tailored frameworks. **Maple Finance** Maple Finance is a blockchain-based capital markets platform enabling institutional lending through tokenized, under-collateralized loans—a contrast to the typical over-collateralization in DeFi. It provides credit professionals a way to originate and manage on-chain loan pools backed by strict underwriting and thorough borrower due diligence. This approach allows institutions to deploy capital with enhanced transparency, efficiency, and speed versus traditional credit markets. Maple offers a familiar risk-return profile combined with improved data visibility, programmable compliance, and real-time settlement. Utilizing smart contracts to automate and remove intermediaries, the platform reduces costs and frictions while maintaining institutional-grade controls. By bridging traditional credit allocation and DeFi, Maple opens new avenues for institutions to engage blockchain-native borrowers. Together, these companies are critical enablers for financial institutions seeking to adopt blockchain technology, offering the security, compliance, and operational tools needed to unlock blockchain’s transformative potential within traditional finance frameworks.