Here’s why crosschain infrastructure is DeFi’s missing layerA new generation of crosschain architecture aims to fix DeFi’s lack of coordination by aligning ecosystems rather than replacing them.Once characterized by a come-and-go approach to liquidity, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem currently struggles with fragmentation rather than scarcity. Every new chain introduces another pool, a separate set of incentives and a different user base. Protocols deploy capital across multiple ecosystems, often replicating infrastructure to maintain basic functionality. The result is thinner markets, higher volatility and a growing disconnect between user presence and available liquidity.

Blockchain bridges were meant to solve this by stitching networks and enabling asset mobility. But in practice, they’ve introduced as many risks as they’ve solved problems. Most rely on a narrow validator set or a single messaging protocol, leaving them vulnerable to failure or exploitation. The high-profile bridge hacks of recent years weren’t exceptions; they were symptoms of design choices that placed too much trust in too few hands.

Meanwhile, maintaining multichain liquidity has become unsustainable. Liquidity providers rotate networks seeking short-term rewards, making protocols vulnerable to sudden capital flight. Users are left to navigate wrapped tokens and unpredictable pricing, while large transfers remain inefficient due to slippage and delays.

The components are all on the table, but DeFi continues to scale in fragments without the infrastructure to coordinate them.