Native Cross-Chain Assets: The Decline Of Wrapped Assets Has Begun

Wrapped assets have been a core component of DeFi architectures since universal composability and cross-chain transactions were first introduced. Unfortunately, they now become sources of significant fragmentation and security risks that increase with growth of interoperability.

In 2021 and 2022, new permissionless messaging technology enabled the delivery of native assets across multiple chains. By 2024, many industry experts foresee universal messaging and full-chain tokens (like those enabled by LayerZero) to proliferate across the DeFi space. Packaged assets will eventually become a thing of the past as developers realize the immediate efficiency gains and security benefits of delivering native assets across systems. The complex web of packaged assets has begun to unravel.