Zero Hash and Ava Labs Reveal Institutional Shift to Onchain Finance in New Readiness Report

Zero Hash and Ava Labs have released "The Onchain Readiness Report," revealing a significant shift in institutional sentiment toward blockchain technology. For fintech professionals, the data highlights a "readiness paradox" where banks, despite currently lagging behind payments firms, expect a rapid catch-up within two years, driven primarily by stablecoin settlement and asset tokenization.

What was announced

The Onchain Readiness Report, based on a survey of 162 institutional operators and executives, indicates that the industry is moving beyond the pilot phase into production-ready deployments. A primary focus for these institutions is the consolidation of investment around two key use cases: stablecoin payments and settlement, and the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA). Together, these categories are expected to capture 63% of institutional investment over the next 24 months. Specifically, 37.7% of respondents are prioritizing stablecoin settlement, while 25.3% are focused on tokenization.

The report also highlights a stark "readiness paradox" within the banking sector. Currently, only 15.4% of bank respondents consider blockchain a standard part of their business—the lowest percentage among all surveyed segments. However, 61.5% of these same institutions expect it to become standard within two years. This suggests a rapid, non-linear adoption curve compared to payments companies (57.9%) and brokerages (45.8%), which are already further along. Meanwhile, asset managers appear to be lagging, with 35.7% admitting they are behind their peers and 21.4% stating that onchain adoption is not yet on their roadmap. Additionally, the report identifies a significant planning gap regarding interoperability, as 22.8% of respondents remain unsure how many blockchain networks they will need to support. Emerging technology is also a factor, with 46.9% of respondents expecting AI agents to routinely manage customer balances and transactions within the next two years.

"This data confirms what we hear from institutions every day: the technology is ready, and for banks especially, momentum is building fast. The institutions that get ahead of that shift now, by working with infrastructure that's already built for scale, will be the ones setting the pace instead of playing catch-up."

Mark Daly, Chief Business Officer at Zero Hash.

The companies involved

Zero Hash is an onchain infrastructure provider that enables businesses to integrate digital assets into their existing product suites. The company focuses on providing the technical and regulatory foundations required for firms to launch and scale onchain products, such as stablecoin payment rails and tokenized asset platforms. Ava Labs is the organization behind a high-performance blockchain platform specifically built for business applications. The platform is designed to offer the control, interoperability, and scale necessary for institutional-grade deployments, particularly in the areas of decentralized finance and asset management. Both companies occupy a critical position in the market as providers of the "plumbing" for the next generation of financial services. While Zero Hash provides the connectivity and infrastructure layer, Ava Labs provides the underlying blockchain environment where these transactions occur. Their collaboration on this report reflects a shared focus on moving the industry from the experimentation phase into full-scale production, targeting a diverse range of clients including banks, fintechs, and asset managers.

What FF News has reported before

Zero Hash has maintained a consistent presence in the digital asset infrastructure space, recently expanding its operational footprint and product capabilities. FF News reported on how Zero Hash Expands European HQ in Amsterdam Following MiCAR Authorization, a move that solidified its position within the European Union's evolving regulatory framework. The company has also been active in enabling new stablecoin use cases, as seen when Zero Hash Launches Onchain Issuance Platform to Power Lossdog’s Lucky Dog Coin. Furthermore, the firm has focused on scaling global payment rails, notably when Zero Hash Integrates Tempo Blockchain to Scale Onchain Stablecoin Payments. These developments underscore the firm's focus on providing the underlying rails for the stablecoin settlement and tokenization trends identified in the latest report.

What this means

The findings suggest that the primary bottleneck for onchain finance is no longer technical, but legal. With 68.5% of institutions citing regulatory clarity as the ultimate accelerant, the industry is effectively in a holding pattern, waiting for policy to catch up with infrastructure. The "readiness paradox" in the banking sector is particularly striking; the anticipated jump from 15.4% to 61.5% adoption in just 24 months suggests a compressed demand wave that could overwhelm firms without established onchain strategies. Furthermore, the lack of internal expertise among asset managers creates a significant competitive risk, potentially allowing more agile fintechs to capture market share in the burgeoning RWA tokenization space.