Fireblocks launches Open Transaction Layer with Robinhood, SoFi to standardise institutional on-chain flows

Fireblocks has unveiled the Open Transaction Layer (OTL), an open standards initiative for institutional on-chain finance spanning identity, session, transport and messaging. Founding members include Robinhood, SoFi, Cross River Bank, Stripe-owned Privy and Bridge, eToro, Securitize, MetaMask, WalletConnect, FalconX, B2C2, Wintermute, zerohash and Coins.ph, alongside the blockchain foundations behind Monad, Polygon, Solana, Stellar, Sui and TON. Fireblocks frames the OTL as a coordination layer to address what it calls integration sprawl: the bespoke connections regulated institutions build to orchestrate digital asset operations end to end. The firm’s chief product officer Idan Ofrat argues that blockchain’s promise of a single source of truth has in practice generated fresh complexity for compliance, identity and counterparty coordination.

The initiative follows the Blockchain Payments Consortium Fireblocks launched in December 2025 for compliance. Fireblocks’ CEO likened the OTL to TCP/IP, suggesting the internet protocol did not scale until others built domain resolution, security and transport standards on top. The founding roster is broad but excludes Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, Circle and Tether.

The OTL signals that even committed integrators see the current state as unsustainable. If the standard gains traction, institutions building proprietary on-chain connectors today may face a choice between adopting a common protocol or defending closed plumbing against interoperable alternatives. The absence of major exchanges and stablecoin issuers leaves open whether the initiative will converge on a de facto standard or fragment further.