BNY Mellon — the world's largest custodian bank managing $50 trillion in assets, recently launched the on-chain data tool Digital Asset Data Insights on Ethereum. This seemingly low-key move is, in fact, the 'D-Day' of traditional finance's invasion into the crypto world. 1. The 'covert operation' of the $50 trillion giant: BNY Mellon's tool broadcasts the net asset value of funds in real-time, compressing traditional finance's 'T+2 settlement' into on-chain seconds. This is not only a technological trial but also a strategic positioning — the bank is collaborating with 27 institutions including JPMorgan and HSBC to build a compliant hybrid chain on Ethereum L2 through the Singapore Project Guardian initiative. Their goal is:
Achieving both security and privacy: Ensuring asset security with Ethereum L1 while achieving institutional-level privacy control with L2;
Reshaping financial infrastructure: Moving the entire custody, clearing, and auditing process of $50 trillion in assets on-chain, reducing costs by 90%.
Compared to traditional finance's 'clumsiness':
Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas are still piloting private chains (like Canton), while BNY Mellon's choice of Ethereum marks the beginning of institutional trust in public chains. BlackRock's tokenized fund BUILD has already managed $2 billion on Ethereum, and BNY Mellon’s tools will propel this scale towards the trillion-dollar level. 2. Ethereum: From 'world computer' to 'global settlement layer' Vitalik's ultimate vision: In a closed-door meeting in Hong Kong, he reiterated that 'Ethereum is the world computer', aiming to enable global applications to interoperate on-chain. This concept is being implemented through an L1+L2 collaborative architecture:
L1 ensures security: Even if the foundation disappears, the chain can still operate;
L2 carries performance: Such as Aztec's privacy transactions and Gensyn's AI training, with processing capacity increased by 100 times.
My 'settlement platform' conclusion:
Ethereum has become a trustless global settlement layer: Stablecoin circulation exceeds $120 billion (60% of the crypto market), processing 15 million transactions daily (L2 contributes 85%);
Future core scenarios: Real-time settlements between AI agents (e.g., $0.0001 payments), tokenized trading of RWA (real-world assets), both relying on Ethereum's millisecond-level clearing capabilities.
Three, technological revolution: RISC-V replacing EVM, Ethereum 'changing engines'
Vitalik's radical proposal: Replacing EVM with the open-source RISC-V instruction set could enhance ZK proof efficiency by 100 times, directly addressing scalability bottlenecks. This would bring Ethereum L1's performance close to Solana while maintaining decentralization advantages. For example:
Hardware-friendly: RISC-V supports JIT optimization, reducing Layer2 verification costs;
Developer migration: Supporting Rust/C languages to attract traditional financial developers.
Impact on the industry:
L1 competitive landscape reshaping: The performance advantages of Solana and Aptos may be weakened;
Accelerated institutional influx: The compliance and customizability of RISC-V will attract more traditional financial institutions.
Four, the future is here: RWA and AI agents' 'on-chain awakening'
The eve of RWA explosion:
$20 trillion in assets waiting to be brought on-chain: Real estate (DAMAC’s $1 billion project), private credit (Centrifuge's $500 million pool), artworks (Harbor's $3 million painting), etc., are realizing a liquidity revolution through Ethereum;
Regulatory easing: The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has approved State Street Galaxy ETF and BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust, marking the acceleration of compliant assets on-chain.
The 'autonomous evolution' of AI agents:
AI agents (like Truth Terminal, Luna) can now autonomously manage wallets, trade tokens, and even participate in governance through DAOs;
Real case: AI agent @0xzerebro earned 32 ETH by selling NFTs, collateralized to become an Ethereum validator node, with an annual yield of 3.2% — this marks a milestone in AI's autonomous participation in the financial ecosystem.
Five, risks and opportunities: Ethereum's 'life and death speed'
Three major challenges:
Technological implementation risks: Replacing RISC-V will take 2-3 years, during which community splits may occur;
Regulatory uncertainty: Institutional RWA on-chain needs to comply with regulations in various countries, which may give rise to 'compliance islands';
Competitive threats: Solana's daily active users have surpassed Ethereum's mainnet, and if RISC-V progresses slowly, it may miss market share.
Investor strategies:
Short-term: Focus on L2 ecosystems (like Base, Arbitrum) AI agent and RWA projects;
Long-term: Hold ETH, betting on the performance leap brought by RISC-V and ZK technologies, as well as the trillion-dollar incremental growth from institutional RWA on-chain.
Conclusion: When $50 trillion meets the 'world computer'
BNY Mellon’s on-chain data tools are just the tip of the iceberg of traditional financial giants' collective 'rebellion'. The essence of this revolution is the deep integration of $50 trillion in assets with the 'world computer'. In the next decade, whether Ethereum can become the 'Federal Reserve' of the digital economy depends on three things:
Technological iteration: Can RISC-V and ZK proofs deliver on performance promises;
Ecological expansion: Can AI agents, RWA, and cross-chain protocols form a closed loop on Ethereum;
Regulatory game: Can the compliance needs of traditional finance and the decentralization spirit of blockchain achieve a balance?
When dinosaurs like JPMorgan, BlackRock, and BNY Mellon start dancing on Ethereum, the rules of the crypto world will be completely rewritten — and the protagonist of this transformation is not a specific project but the entire Ethereum ecosystem.
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