The concept of financial freedom is often touted as a key benefit of the crypto industry, but the reality is that users are not truly free if their assets are trapped on a single blockchain. This limitation is a major hurdle for the industry, which promises openness, sovereignty, and permissionless access, but often delivers a fragmented and isolated experience.
According to Temujin Louie, CEO of Wanchain, a blockchain interoperability solution, “Owning assets is not freedom without mobility – isolated blockchains trap users and limit their ability to move capital and capture opportunities across the ecosystem.” This fragmentation leads to inefficiency and tribalism, concentrating benefits on power users and creating the same limitations as traditional finance.
The Problem of Fragmentation
One of the biggest challenges facing the crypto industry is the lack of seamless interoperability between blockchains. Each blockchain functions like an isolated jurisdiction with its own rules, standards, liquidity pools, and tools, making it difficult for users to move assets freely throughout the ecosystem. This limitation prevents users from taking advantage of opportunities and realizing true financial freedom.
A study by the Blockchain Council found that 71% of blockchain developers believe that interoperability is essential for the widespread adoption of blockchain technology. However, the current state of fragmentation limits participation and revenue optimization, forcing users to settle for suboptimal results due to the complexity and risk of navigating multiple chains.
The Risks of Centralized Bridges
Attempts to resolve fragmentation through centralized bridges come with their own risks, including single points of failure, vendor lock-in, and vulnerability to government interference. These solutions often reproduce the shortcomings of traditional finance by concentrating control in a single entity while requiring users to trust opaque systems.
Decentralization is not an ideological preference, but a security requirement. Eliminating single points of failure reduces system risk and limits the ability of any single actor to exert excessive control over user resources. A properly designed decentralized infrastructure also reduces the need for vendor lock-in and mitigates the impact of regulatory or operational shocks.
The Need for Industry-Wide Standards
The solution to the problem of fragmentation is not a single product or protocol, but industry-wide standards. Competing interoperability solutions must figure out how to interoperate with each other; otherwise, the industry will not be able to deliver on its promise. Financial freedom depends on choice, and choice depends on mobility.
As Temujin Louie notes, “Imagine if Internet routers could only communicate with other routers from the same manufacturer. That’s exactly where web3 stands today.” The industry needs to work towards a future where assets can move freely across blockchains without friction, enabling open access to capital, opportunities, and innovation at scale.
Temujin Louie is CEO of Wanchain, the longest-running blockchain interoperability solution. His blockchain journey began in 2012 as a PhD student at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he studied Bitcoin’s impact on established power structures. Temujin is a subject matter expert in blockchain interoperability and is committed to unifying all blockchains and driving mainstream adoption of Web3 through universal interoperability standards.
For more information on the importance of interoperability in the crypto industry, visit https://crypto.news/web3-cannot-deliver-freedom-with-a-single-blockchain/
