Cross-chain bridges are proactively seeking transformation, as LI.FI uses an intent architecture to become the liquidity hub for TradFi institutions
- Core Thesis: Cross-chain bridge protocol LI.FI is proactively seeking change by launching the intent execution architecture LI.FI Intents. It is upgrading from a pure liquidity protocol to a foundational execution layer serving enterprise users, focusing on stablecoin payments, RWA assets, and compliant on-chain liquidity to navigate the industry's liquidity crunch and market downturn.
- Key Elements:
- Over the past 30 days, the aggregated trading volume of cross-chain bridges was approximately $1.92 billion. Monthly trading volume has dropped roughly 34% from its peak of $2.974 billion, indicating a market liquidity crunch.
- LI.FI has secured $52 million in funding (led by Multicoin and CoinFund), providing the capital to explore new businesses, expanding into yield opportunities and lending markets.
- The new product LI.FI Earn was launched in April, supporting enterprises in accessing over 20 vault protocols and executing cross-chain operations through a single interface.
- The core of LI.FI Intents is achieving precise cross-chain swaps of stablecoins like USDC and USDT via a solver network, without users needing to manage gas or handle underlying steps.
- On the compliance front, this architecture's network consists of legitimate entities. Orders require review and approval, and interacting wallets are subject to US OFAC screening to ensure compliance clearance.
- The ecosystem has broad coverage, including the EVM ecosystem, Solana, and the Tron network, reducing reliance on a single chain and associated security risks.
Original｜Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author｜Wenser (@wenser 2010 )
When TradFi becomes an inevitable choice for the crypto industry, no project can afford to stand aloof. However, while some choose to start with asset types, others are eyeing the various companies and institutions behind the assets.
Last month, cross-chain bridge protocol LI.FI loudly announced the launch of its intent-based execution architecture, LI.FI Intents. This product will serve as the underlying execution layer for providing stablecoin payments, RWA, and compliant on-chain liquidity, targeting fintech companies, neobanks, wallets, and regulated financial institutions.
As stablecoin payments, RWA assets, and compliant assets gradually merge with the on-chain ecosystem, Li.Fi is no longer content to be just a "liquidity transmission protocol." Instead, it is actively seeking breakthroughs and role upgrades across new assets, new clients, new operating systems, and other fronts.
When Industry Liquidity Tightens, Cross-Chain Bridge Protocols Proactively Seek Change
According to DefiLlama data, the aggregated trading volume of cross-chain bridges over the past 30 days was approximately $1.92 billion, with a weekly decline of about 1.81%. Since reaching a peak of $2.974 billion in trading volume last October, the monthly trading volume of cross-chain bridges has been on a slow decline, dropping to around $1.9 billion in May, a decrease of nearly 34% from the peak.
On the other hand, the overall crypto market is in a state of oscillating downturn, with BTC spot trading volume down 81% from its peak last year, further tightening on-chain liquidity.
Faced with this situation, Li.Fi, as a cross-chain bridge protocol, has not sat idly by like most crypto projects. Instead, it is actively exploring new businesses, seeking new application scenarios and service targets to ensure its long-term development.
Last December, LI.FI announced the completion of a $29 million funding round, led by Multicoin and CoinFund. This round also brought its total funding to $52 million. At the time, the project stated that it planned to use this latest capital to expand its business into different trading areas, including perpetual futures, yield opportunities, prediction markets, and lending markets.
Sufficient funding has given Li.Fi the confidence to explore and build new products while ensuring its core business base.
This April, LI.FI announced the launch of a new product, LI.FI Earn, which provides on-chain yield functionalities for enterprises with digital asset strategies. It supports strategies integrating over 20 vault protocols through a single interface and comes with built-in cross-chain execution capabilities across more than 60 chains.
In May, the intent execution architecture LI.FI Intents was released, marking Li.Fi's official entry into the enterprise service sector. It empowers a range of B-end clients with underlying operational capabilities for stablecoin payments, RWA assets, and compliant liquidity.
At a time when TradFi assets and crypto assets are converging, reducing user entry barriers from the operational execution layer, improving liquidity efficiency, and unlocking tokenized asset exchange channels represent the new direction of Li.Fi's upgrades and iterations. Compared to cross-chain protocols limited to the crypto market, providing financial services to global fintech companies, neobanks, wallets, and regulated financial institutions is undoubtedly a cash cow business with a much higher ceiling.
From a user experience perspective, Li.Fi Intents essentially provides users with a simpler, plug-and-play execution solution. It is reported that it primarily utilizes a solver network to offer market-maker-level execution, enabling precise cross-chain swaps between stablecoins like USDC and USDT without requiring users to manage gas tokens or handle complex underlying blockchain steps. Additionally, the architecture supports applications integrating multiple tokenized asset issuers through a unified interface.
From the perspective of entry barriers, LI.FI Intents is currently live on applications and wallets like Jumper and Rabby. Moreover, with LI.FI Intents, enterprise users do not need to interact with any wallet, significantly lowering the understanding threshold for transfer payments, asset transfers, and other operations, while reducing many cumbersome steps.
From a compliance standpoint, The network built by LI.FI Intents consists of verified legitimate entities. Enterprises can review and approve corresponding orders one by one before the transaction processing system handles them, precisely selecting the transaction processing systems they trust, thereby ensuring orders flow within a compliant approval framework. All wallets interacting with this system will be subject to OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department) screening, essentially adding a final layer of 'compliance insurance.'
From an ecosystem perspective, LI.FI Intents covers major blockchain networks, including the EVM ecosystem, Solana network, and Tron network. It achieves a certain level of adaptability in terms of ecosystem usability and broad coverage, mitigating potential security risks or single-point failure issues that could arise from heavy reliance on a single blockchain network.
Conclusion: Efficient Automated Services Behind Intent Execution
If the tokenization of US stocks and RWA assets solved the problems of updating asset types and lowering the entry barrier for traditional finance, then Li.Fi Intents targets how to bring stablecoin payments, RWA assets, and compliant on-chain liquidity into enterprise ecosystems better and faster, improving their operational efficiency and capital utilization.
More importantly, the Li.Fi Intents system is designed for intent execution. Like destination navigation in smart driving, enterprise users only need to set a goal, and the intermediate execution steps are all outsourced to the system for processing.
In today's era of extremely abundant asset types, the value of efficient operations will be further amplified. Li.Fi has already taken the most critical step forward.
