Crypto-linked business models built around the movement of value rather than product sales are emerging as a key force reshaping financial markets, according to a16z crypto partner Rosenthal, as blockchain infrastructure accelerates global transaction flows and pressures legacy fee structures.
Value streams drive stronger revenue models
Rosenthal argues that firms positioned at the center of value flows have historically created more durable and scalable businesses. From railways to payment processors and cloud platforms, these companies benefit by capturing revenue tied directly to the growth of activity moving through their systems.
This dynamic is now becoming more visible in modern financial markets, where firms that facilitate transactions—rather than simply offer products—are capturing an outsized share of profits as volumes expand.
Financial system inefficiencies under pressure
Traditional financial infrastructure continues to operate with high structural costs, creating openings for disruption. Payment networks still charge merchants between 1.5% and 3.5% per transaction, while cross-border systems and post-trade processes remain slow and expensive despite improvements such as T+1 settlement in the United States.
Recent data highlights the scale of these profit pools. Visa reported roughly $40 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025, supported by rising transaction volumes. Meanwhile, trading firm Jane Street generated nearly $39.6 billion in revenue, exceeding some major U.S. banks. Market concentration is also intensifying, with market makers handling the overwhelming majority of retail order flow—over 90% in both equities and options.
Blockchain introduces real-time global settlement
Blockchain technology is offering an alternative foundation, providing an open and programmable settlement layer that allows capital to move globally at internet speed. Stablecoins play a central role in this shift, enabling near-instant transfers while reaching a market capitalization above $321 billion by April 2026.
Transaction activity is already significant. Stablecoin settlement volumes exceeded $28 trillion in the first quarter of 2026 alone, signaling rapid adoption and highlighting areas where traditional intermediaries may face pressure.
Token-based systems also align incentives across users, developers, and platforms by redistributing value based on participation. This structure allows networks to grow stronger as usage increases, reinforcing the same infrastructure with every transaction.
Network effects build faster than legacy systems
Open blockchain networks can scale more efficiently than traditional financial systems, which often rely on closed architectures and take years to build comparable network effects. Each additional transaction strengthens liquidity, usability, and overall network value in real time.
This compounding effect is now visible across decentralized finance platforms, where trading activity is accelerating. On one platform, perpetual trading volumes exceeded $432 billion within a 30-day period in early 2026, reflecting the emergence of alternative venues for complex financial activity.
Expansion beyond finance
The same value-stream model is beginning to appear outside financial services. Markets tied to GPU compute, artificial intelligence training data, energy distribution, robotics, aerospace, and rare earth supply chains are increasingly seen as candidates for similar transformation.
Tokenization is a key example. The market for tokenized real-world assets surpassed $36 billion by late 2025 and has continued expanding rapidly, growing nearly sixfold into mid-2026. The sector is also diversifying beyond government bonds into broader yield-generating instruments.
Where disruption is most likely
Rosenthal points to sectors with the highest cost extraction as the most vulnerable to change. Payments, custody, lending, foreign exchange, and market making remain areas where inefficiencies persist and where programmable blockchain infrastructure could reduce costs and increase speed.
For market participants, two indicators are emerging as critical signals:
- Growth in stablecoin settlement volumes, reflecting shifts in how value moves globally
- Expansion of tokenized assets and decentralized trading activity, showing where liquidity is forming
These trends suggest that financial architecture is undergoing a gradual but fundamental rewiring, with transaction volume increasingly migrating to faster, more open systems.
Focus on positioning within value flows
Rosenthal’s core takeaway is that long-term opportunities will favor businesses embedded directly within value streams. Firms that scale revenue alongside transaction growth—rather than relying on fixed product sales—are better positioned to capture the upside as activity expands.
As blockchain adoption increases, the competitive landscape is likely to shift toward those building infrastructure that facilitates value movement efficiently, rather than those extracting fees from legacy systems.
To apply these ideas in markets, explore Toobit’s TradFi vs DeFi guide for value-stream focused trading insights.
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