According to Cointelegraph, while blockchain technology is technically prepared for institutional use, legal teams at major firms remain hesitant to fully integrate it. At the Token2049 event in Dubai, Austin Federa, founder of DoubleZero Labs and former head of strategy at Solana, emphasized that high-performance blockchains like Solana are capable of supporting large-scale institutional operations. However, the reluctance of legal teams to embrace the technology is a significant barrier.
Federa noted that although blockchains such as Solana are fast enough for institutional use, the challenge lies in getting institutions and their legal advisors comfortable with cryptocurrency. He pointed out that institutional lawyers and compliance teams are still grappling with regulatory concerns, which could slow down adoption despite increasing regulatory clarity in key markets like the United States. The technical infrastructure is no longer a primary obstacle for large firms, as the necessary tools to support enterprise-scale activity on networks like Solana are already available.
Federa explained that while the crypto community might expect faster institutional adoption, these organizations are inherently slow in adopting new technologies. He stated that institutions are gradually coming on board, but their pace is not as rapid as some might hope. Until legal departments are fully satisfied with risk controls and compliance structures, significant adoption is likely to progress slowly.
Moreover, Federa highlighted a growing trend of institutional involvement in the crypto infrastructure space. He mentioned that bare-metal infrastructure providers and venture capital firms have begun offering financial support and contributing actual fiber infrastructure to DoubleZero. This level of commitment was almost unimaginable a few years ago, as many companies previously considered it too legally risky to invest in such infrastructure.
Deploying fiber and infrastructure represents a major commitment, unlike running a validator node. Federa observed that the allocation of serious resources by institutional players to crypto-native projects indicates a shift in how traditional finance views the sector. Despite this progress, he acknowledged that while institutional adoption is increasing, the broader crypto product landscape is not yet fully mature. "The products are not quite there yet for the most part," Federa concluded.
