Ethena and Securitize unveil a new blockchain for Real-World Assets (RWA) and digital money. The new chain will be optimized for launching both permissionless and permissioned RWA applications, leveraging Arbitrum’s tech stack and Celestia for data availability.
Ethena and Securitize have announced the launch of Converge, a new blockchain purpose-built for Real-World Asset (RWA) applications. It is developed using Arbitrum’s technology stack and leverages Celestia for its data availability layer.
According to the team, Converge is pursuing an ambitious goal: “onboarding billions of dollars in institutional capital on-chain, enabling the long-anticipated convergence of RWAs and DeFi”. To support this vision, they are building institutional-grade infrastructure designed to scale RWA tokenization for the world’s largest financial institutions.
Though Converge will be a permissionless blockchain, it is designed to support both permissioned and permissionless applications. That means regulated RWA and DeFi platforms will be able to operate seamlessly alongside open, permissionless digital asset protocols.
Technically, Converge is designed to be fast—block times are expected to come in under 100 milliseconds, thanks to an optimized version of the Conduit G2 sequencer. With this setup, the network aims to handle up to 30,000 transactions per second. To reduce friction, the network will also use Ethena’s USDe and USDtb stablecoins as gas tokens for the network.
The chain will have its own validator set known as the Converge Validator Network (CVN), secured by staked ENA, Ethena’s governance token. CVN will serve as a discretionary security council with the authority to intervene in cases of emergencies. Validators must stake ENA to participate in the CVN, and both operators and delegators will be eligible to earn a share of protocol transaction fees, along with other potential rewards from the Converge ecosystem.
The team aims to onboard a wide range of permissionless and permissioned applications that make use of Ethena’s stablecoins and Securitize’s tokenized assets. Because Converge supports the EVM, apps built on Ethereum can be moved over pretty easily, without needing major changes.
The team is also working on a perpetual DEX called Ethereal. It will run on its own chain but settle directly to Converge, essentially functioning as a Layer 2 built on top of it. Based on current specifications, Ethereal aims to handle over 1 million orders per second and more than 2,000 on-chain trades per second.
Right now, Securitize and Ethena have about $10 billion in total value locked, all sitting on Ethereum. If a good chunk of that shifts over to Converge, it could quickly push the new chain into the top ranks by TVL in crypto.
To reduce data availability costs, Converge uses Celestia instead of Ethereum. Still, there will be bridge infrastructure in place to allow users to easily transfer assets from Ethereum to Converge.
When it comes to timelines, the project is set to enter its testnet phase soon, with a mainnet launch planned for Q2 of this year.
The long-term success of the chain will ultimately depend on its ability to attract and retain real-world asset applications. With Securitize’s deep involvement in the RWA sector and Ethena’s strong liquidity foundation, the project has a strong chance of making that vision a reality.