[Recap] Unlocking On-Chain Opportunities: Metrics, Demand, and Use Cases RIAs Need to Know

On October 7th, 2025, The Tie hosted the Polkadot Quarterly Webinar, “Unlocking On-Chain Opportunities: Metrics, Demand, and Use Cases RIAs Need to Know,” featuring Dave Sedacca, Lead at Polkadot Capital Group and Director of Finance at Parity Technologies; Adam Blumberg, Co-Founder of Enclave Digital Wealth; and Nico Arevalo, Co-Founder and CEO of Velocity Labs. Moderated by Sacha Ghebali, Chief Strategy Officer at The Tie, the conversation explored how Polkadot’s modular architecture, scalable blockspace, and evolving ecosystem are shaping institutional-grade DeFi infrastructure and new opportunities for registered investment advisors (RIAs) and their clients..

Modular Architecture: Purpose-Built Blockspace with Shared Security

The panel opened by comparing and contrasting monolithic chains with Polkadot’s modular “network of networks.” Rather than one chain doing everything, Polkadot enables specialized chains (parachains) to share security while optimizing for specific use cases. That division of labor reduces operational burden for issuers and app teams and aligns well with institutional requirements. Transparent, on-chain governance, where token holders vote on upgrades, adds additional accountability and auditability that many compliance teams expect.

Metrics That Matter for Institutions

Institutions evaluate ecosystems through a risk and access lens: custody options, wallet support, and the ability to interoperate without brittle third-party bridges. Polkadot’s native XCM messaging allows assets and calls to move within the ecosystem without custodial bridges, while proof-based solutions like HyperBridge are designed to connect externally without single points of failure.

The panel emphasized quality of blockspace (meaning space that is available, safe, and cost-predictable under load). Raw transactions per second matters less than uptime and fee stability. If costs spike during congestion, it’s difficult to build scalable products for clients.

Elastic Scaling and Polkadot Hub: Capacity When You Need It

Sedacca and Arevalo highlighted Elastic Scaling, which lets teams rent additional blockspace during peak periods and scale back afterward, bringing a cloud-like model to on-chain operations. That flexibility supports seasonal demand and reduces the mismatch between steady infrastructure costs and spiky usage patterns.

The upcoming Polkadot Hub adds EVM compatibility and a direct deploy path on Polkadot, lowering the friction for Ethereum-native teams to launch. To accelerate adoption, Velocity Labs’ DeFi Builders Program packages technical support, grants, audit subsidies, bootstrap liquidity, and hiring help. Nearly 100 teams applied for the inaugural 12-week cohort, signaling renewed developer momentum.

Demand Drivers: Regulation, Readiness, and RWAs

While the industry still has an oversupply of blockspace, the panel sees demand catching up as two catalysts converge: clearer regulation and institutional readiness. After years of exploration, large financial players better understand where blockchains fit and how on-chain rails can improve market structure.

Sedacca pointed to real-world asset tokenization (now tens of billions on-chain) as a leading use case, with private credit a standout due to historically high barriers to entry. Polkadot’s predictable fees, security, and modularity position it to support issuance, collateralization (with USDC/USDT on Hub), and distribution across DeFi venues. Arevalo added that stablecoins, a common form of RWA, illustrate how dollar liquidity seeds broader activity and remains resilient across market cycles.

Expanding Access: Equities, UX, and the “Plumbing”

Tokenized global equities broaden access to U.S. stocks for investors worldwide, particularly in markets underserved by traditional brokers. The panel agreed the biggest bottleneck is still user experience. Advisors and end users need simpler wallets, cross-chain abstraction, and clearer portfolio views to track exposures across protocols and chains.

Sedacca noted that data availability and reporting are core needs for RIAs. Risk, Profits & Losses, and tax-sensitive workflows must be as visible and exportable as in traditional systems. The group expects rapid progress as infrastructure providers converge on standard abstractions that hide cross-chain complexity.

RIAs: From ETF Comfort to On-Chain Workflows

Blumberg described how spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have legitimized the asset class for many advisors, but on-chain portfolio management is the next step. Qualified custodians provide starting points, while MPC wallets let advisors assist clients without taking possession of private keys. The main near-term hurdles are compliant workflows, unified reporting, and education. Once RIAs can manage client assets on chain with the same confidence and clarity they have in TradFi, meaningful allocations will follow.

Looking Ahead: Proof-of-Concepts that De-Risk Adoption

The panel expects the next wave of adoption to come from proof-of-concepts that demonstrate safe, compliant, and operationally efficient strategies on Polkadot Hub. For RIAs, priorities are clear: predictable costs, secure custody, clean reporting, and seamless integration into existing systems. With modular design, native interoperability, and elastic capacity, Polkadot aims to provide the rails advisors need to move from pilot to practice.

Conclusion

DeFi infrastructure must work for everyone, from institutions managing complex mandates to individuals entering on-chain markets for the first time. The discussion underscored how Polkadot’s approach to shared security, predictable blockspace, elastic scaling, and an EVM-compatible hub, maps directly to that goal. As tokenization, private credit, and on-chain equities expand, and as RIAs gain the workflows and reporting they require, the path forward is less about speculation and more about building usable, reliable systems for real portfolios.