The Era of Great Infrastructure Integration

Cryptocurrency infrastructure is undergoing a profound paradigm shift from "Road Building" (Chain Development) to "Vehicle Manufacturing" (Applications & Interoperability). It is increasingly difficult to find new opportunities at the chain level itself; the only viable path now is to launch chains stemming from successful applications. Conversely, most chains that started as infrastructure without a clear product-market fit (PMF) are destined to fade away. From the perspective of business integration, prioritizing chain-level infrastructure at the outset offers little value.

Analyzing the lifecycle of an application helps us clarify the rigid demand for infrastructure and services within the industry.

1. Development & Build Phase

This is the "foundation laying" stage, primarily involving the selection of underlying protocols and the writing of smart contracts.

2. Data & Interaction / Runtime Phase

Once the application is live, the frontend must communicate with the blockchain. Since querying blockchain nodes directly is both slow and expensive, a middleware layer is required.

3. Storage & Hosting

4. Security & Monitoring

Crucial throughout the lifecycle, covering both pre-deployment and runtime.

5. UX & Financials

This is the "Last Mile" where users interact with the app, determining conversion rates

6. Growth & Liquidity

The stage where an app moves from "usable" to "valuable." The goal is to ensure assets have a trading venue, depth, active players, and transparent data.

In the context of this great consolidation, infrastructure and service providers that occupy both upstream and downstream ecosystems will hold advantageous positions, continuously widening their scope.

From the perspective that "the token is the biggest product," Exchanges and Market Makers capture the most profit. However, from a future user-product perspective, the ecosystem niche closest to the user holds the most value. Undoubtedly, this is the Wallet. Privy is the quintessential example here; we can replicate their business logic by integrating small vendors across every link of the infrastructure chain to offer a complete solution. Aside from the chain level, tools that survive will be those with proven technical strength and stable cash flow businesses.

Privy Integration Case in WaaS

Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) is the "Last Mile" for Web2 users entering the Web3 world. Its core value lies in eliminating the cognitive barrier of Seed Phrases. Through Multi-Party Computation (MPC) or Account Abstraction (AA), users can create and manage on-chain accounts seamlessly via email, social accounts, or biometrics. The direction of this sector was confirmed when Stripe acquired Privy: Wallet infrastructure is no longer just a SaaS service; it is the strategic choke point connecting web2 and web3, it's also a business of selling traction.

In 2025, the technological roadmap for WaaS has highly converged:

Most projects employ a combination tech stack: pure MPC, TEEs, or an MPC + TEE hybrid.

The business model for WaaS is evolving from simple SaaS subscriptions to "Value Sharing."

Before 2023, Privy focused on privacy. By the time of its acquisition in 2025, it had defined the interaction standard for Consumer Crypto Apps through outstanding performance in high-traffic applications. Its core moat lies in an extreme Developer Experience (DX) and an architecture that isolates user privacy.

Privy provides a comprehensive solution: asset custody, user entry, identity verification, and transaction signing, enabling B-side clients to scale rapidly. The product suite is built around a core thesis: Onboarding should be decoupled from Custody but seamlessly integrated into the application lifecycle. This achieves "Progressive Authentication"—users interact via standard Web2 methods (email/socials) and only trigger underlying crypto elements when value transfer occurs.

Product Solution

Privy represents a typical SSS + TEE solution. It uses the Shamir Secret Sharing (SSS) algorithm to manage private keys. In this model, the private key never exists or is stored in full in a single location. Instead, it is encrypted and split into "Shares." A typical implementation involves a 2-of-3 Quorum:

For operations requiring key reconstruction, Privy does not use standard cloud server memory. Instead, it utilizes Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs/Enclaves) like AWS Nitro Enclaves or Intel SGX. This ensures that even during the millisecond where shares combine to sign a transaction, the data is completely isolated from the main OS and memory.

However, facing the user, the strategy is "Web2 Experience First, Web3 Settlement Later." In Privy, "Identity" and "Wallet" are treated as distinct but closely related entities. The core data structure is the "User Object." A user object can link multiple authentication methods (DID). A user might log in via Farcaster on mobile and Email on desktop; Privy resolves these disparate logins into the same user identity, ensuring access to the same embedded wallet. This service is a necessity for most applications.

Business Model

Privy remains a To-B business, or more accurately, To-D (Developer). It bundles underlying infrastructure layers essentially telling developers: "Just use Privy; focus on your business logic, and handle the rest via our simple SDK." Their Client-Side SDK covers React (Web), React Native (Mobile), iOS, Android, Unity, and Flutter. These SDKs handle UI components and local storage logic for Share A, interacting directly with device hardware to ensure sensitive operations happen on the client side.

Revenue combines the three models mentioned:

Revenue combines the three models mentioned above:

Packages Behind Privy

Essentially, Privy acts as a Middleware layer, orchestrating interactions between users, blockchains, data providers, and liquidity protocols. It is a highly effective "Integrator."

Component Partner/Provider Usage
Cross-Chain/Swap Relay Protocol (Reservoir) Instant settlement & liquidity
Indexing Goldsky Real-time subgraph mirroring
Gas Analysis (AA) Pimlico, ZeroDev Paymaster infrastructure
RPC/Nodes Alchemy, Infura Connectivity & Broadcasting
On-Ramp Stripe, MoonPay, Coinbase Card -> Crypto
Stablecoin Rails Bridge (Stripe) Issuing, Redemption, Virtual IBANs

Relay Protocol & Invisible Bridging

One of the biggest friction points in Web3 is "Wallet Funding." Privy solves this via deep integration with Relay Protocol.

Account Abstraction (ERC-4337) & Smart Wallets

While standard Privy wallets are EOAs, the platform actively adopts AA standards.

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RPC / Nodes

Multi-Source RPC Aggregation: For standard RPC traffic, Privy ensures high availability by aggregating connections from major providers (such as Alchemy and Infura). This redundant design prevents scenarios where downtime from a single node provider renders the entire wallet service unavailable.

Data Indexing and Real-Time State Sync

To read blockchain states (e.g., "Does this user own a specific NFT?" or "What is the balance?"), Privy relies on specialized indexing services.

Fiat Channels: Synergy between Stripe & Bridge

Prior to its acquisition, Privy maintained integrations with third-party on-ramp channels like MoonPay and Coinbase Pay. However, the post-acquisition landscape places Stripe and Bridge at the center of the fiat-to-crypto workflow.

User stickiness is extremely high; once a product integrates Privy, migration is difficult, because once the developers used it, the migration to other solution is so hard.

Valuation Metrics

Weaknesses and Strategic Entry Points

Privy categorizes its chain support capabilities into two tiers based on the depth of integration, with the first tier being the most robust. This tier includes all mainstream Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chains (such as Ethereum Mainnet, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Zora, Blast, Linea, Scroll, Avalanche C-Chain) as well as Solana.

For these chains, Privy provides full-stack services, including RPC node management, Transaction Simulation, Gas estimation, and deep integration with embedded wallets.

The SDK allows developers to configure a "Default Chain" and a list of "Supported Chains." For example, an application built on Base can force the wallet to connect to the Base network upon initialization, preventing users from accidentally incurring expensive Gas fees on the Ethereum mainnet due to operational errors.

However, the remaining second tier offers only signing support, covering networks like Bitcoin, Sui, Tron, and Aptos. For these networks, Privy does not provide the advanced sendTransaction method (meaning it does not handle RPC broadcasting or Gas estimation). Instead, it offers key derivation and "Raw Signing" interfaces. Developers must use chain-specific libraries (such as TronWeb or BitcoinJS) to construct transaction binary data, pass its hash to Privy for signing, and then broadcast it themselves. Theoretically, for Privy, this supports any blockchain using standard cryptographic curves (secp256k1 or ed25519), ensuring clients are not locked out if they choose niche networks.

Another aspect that is not currently a security breach but could become a potential security incident in the future is Privy's architectural choice regarding key management. Privy does not use TSS technology where the "private key is never reconstructed"; instead, it selected the Shamir Secret Sharing (SSS) route. The critical distinction in the SSS signature mechanism is that the private key is still exposed during the following process:

  1. When a signature is required, Privy collects the fragments (shards).
  2. It reconstructs the complete private key within an isolated environment (formerly iframes, now primarily pushing TEE / SGX Secure Enclaves).
  3. It uses the complete private key to sign the transaction.
  4. Once signing is complete, the private key is immediately wiped from memory.

The reason a major player like Privy still utilizes SSS is that TSS (especially Multi-Party Computation signing) is computationally complex, slower, and had not undergone extensive real-world testing at the time of their adoption. The SSS algorithm is extremely simple, fast, and mature. Additionally, TEEs compensate for the security shortcomings. Privy's introduction of TEEs is equivalent to placing an "absolute black box" in the cloud; the private key is reconstructed only within this box, and external parties (including Privy employees and hackers) cannot peek inside.

While such an architecture is understandable in the current market context, recent security incidents have revealed that TEEs are not impervious to theft or exploits. Therefore, from a technical security standpoint, it is highly probable that Privy will not serve as the most secure channel for storing significant amounts of user assets.

Based on these two reasons, there are clearly more opportunities remaining in this market.

M&A of Full-Process Infrastructure and Services

Building on the Privy acquisition logic, we can construct a competitive, comprehensive infrastructure provider covering broader upstream and downstream sectors.

In infrastructure, P/E ratios are typically N/A or negative. Despite high SaaS margins (70%+), Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) are high, and profits are reinvested into R&D. Therefore, we focus on the Price-to-Sales (P/S) Ratio as the core valuation anchor.

Core WaaS Infrastructure: Pick Openfort First

In the mid-market, Web3Auth (formerly Torus) is a pluggable infrastructure acquired by Consensys. Its core Distributed Key Generation (DKG) network makes it more of a key management protocol than a SaaS product, now a core component of MetaMask.

Openfort

Openfort positions itself as "Wallet-as-a-Service" (WaaS) infrastructure, primarily serving Web3 gaming and consumer-grade applications. Its core selling points are a "Headless" wallet architecture and open-source key management, aiming to deliver an ultimate user experience (frictionless interaction). Its core components can essentially perform at least 80% of Privy's functionality, including:

In terms of the technical solution, both Openfort and Privy use Shamir's Secret Sharing (SSS) technology to shard private keys and utilize Secure Enclaves to protect the key reconstruction process. However, Openfort was designed for Smart Accounts from day one. Native integration of Bundlers, Paymasters (sponsorship), and Session Keys are all part of its core API, eliminating the need to piece together other service providers. Because it is native AA, it handles Session Keys (temporary authorization without frequent signing) much more smoothly and deeply than Privy, which is critical for blockchain gaming (GameFi).

In terms of its Business Model, Openfort also adopts a typical "SaaS Subscription + Usage-based" model. Its pricing strategy is highly transparent, designed to attract developers with a low barrier to entry and generate profit as their applications scale.

Pricing Tiers:

  1. Starter (Free Version):
    • Cost: $0/month.
    • Limits: 1,000 MAU (Monthly Active Users), 500 transactions.
  2. Growth:
    • Cost: $99/month.
    • Limits: 5,000 MAU, 25,000 transactions.
    • Overage Fee: $0.02 / MAU.
  3. Pro:
    • Cost: $249/month.
    • Limits: 20,000 MAU, 100,000 transactions.
    • Overage Fee: $0.0125 / MAU.
    • Includes: Priority support and SLA.
  4. Scale:
    • Cost: $599/month.
    • Limits: 75,000 MAU, 350,000 transactions.
    • Overage Fee: $0.008 / MAU.

Additional Revenue Sources:

Revenue Estimation:

Therefore, the ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) Estimate currently falls within the $500k - $1.5M USD range. As an infrastructure company in the late Seed stage, this revenue scale is consistent with the phase of "Finding Product-Market Fit (PMF) and beginning to scale."

Valuation Analysis:

Based on the $3M Seed Round financing in 2023, the Post-money Valuation at that time can be estimated between $12M - $20M. Considering the business growth throughout 2024-2025 (scaling from early stage to over 10 million transactions), its current internal valuation or secondary market valuation (if any) should see a significant increase.

Particle Network

Particle Network represents a highly successful case of transformation, executing a significant leap from Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) to a "Chain Abstraction" Layer-1. From an infrastructure perspective, it now possesses a full stack: the underlying blockchain, infrastructure services, and its own user-facing applications. Its core product line now includes:

Revenue Model Evolution:
Initially, the model was primarily based on SaaS Subscription Fees (WaaS):

Business Model Innovation: Particle introduced "Universal Accounts," allowing users to interact across multiple chains (EVM, Solana, BTC) with a single address and pay Gas with any token. Consequently, its revenue sources expanded from pure B2B SaaS to include underlying Gas exchange spreads and potential cross-chain protocol fees.

During the MEME craze, the team demonstrated great flexibility by pivoting towards Protocol/Transaction Fees (Token Value Accrual), generating approximately $4 million in fee revenue in the first month of launch. While current volumes are likely far below the levels seen in early 2025, the token $PARTI currently has a Circulating Market Cap of approximately $45 million - $48 million, with a Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) of around $100 million. From an equity valuation perspective, there should be significant room for a discount.

RPC Node Services: Try Small and Effective Ones

The current Node/RPC sector is exhibiting a distinct trend of "Polarization" and "Vertical Integration":

  1. Commoditization & Price War: Basic RPC requests (such as eth_blockNumber) have become completely commoditized. Decentralized aggregators like dRPC have driven prices down to extremely low levels (e.g., $6 per 1M requests), forcing traditional centralized service providers to pivot.

  2. Value Chain Ascension: To combat commoditization, giants like Alchemy and QuickNode are expanding into Account Abstraction, Embedded Wallets, and Data Indexing through acquisitions and R&D. Stripe’s acquisition of Privy is a landmark event in this trend, signifying that payment giants are beginning to integrate underlying RPC infrastructure by controlling the wallet entry point.

  3. Valuation Arbitrage Window: While Tier 1 giants (like Alchemy) boast valuations as high as $10.2 billion, the Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets contain numerous "Hidden Champions." These companies possess healthy cash flows and deep technical moats but are undervalued. These targets typically focus on Hosting or Validator services as their core business, offering cash flow stability that is superior to the pure SaaS model.

The valuation of such companies may exceed $20 million. This is because companies in the mid-to-tail range are often not cash-strapped; many have been bootstrapped since inception and have never raised external funding. Conversely, companies with excessively low valuations often lack sustainability.

GetBlock

GetBlock is a quintessential "Lean, Tech-Heavy, and Capital-Light" Web3 infrastructure provider. Unlike unicorns like Alchemy or Infura that have raised massive amounts of capital, GetBlock focuses on the high-end market of "Dedicated Nodes." It supports 100+ mainstream blockchains with extremely broad coverage, including many non-EVM heterogeneous chains (such as Solana, Tron, Bitcoin, TON). This is highly valuable for acquirers looking beyond the Ethereum ecosystem. Following Alchemy's acquisition of Bware Labs, GetBlock remains one of the few independent targets in the market with a mature dedicated node technology stack.

In 2025, GetBlock underwent a major product restructuring, shifting from simply "Selling Nodes" to offering more refined "Compute Resource Services."

In March 2025, they implemented a significant Pricing Model Reform.

Since GetBlock does not disclose financial reports and is likely Bootstrapped, we must estimate its revenue through "Reverse Engineering" combined with its business data. We use the "Revenue per Employee" cost-inversion method (the most accurate for this context):

As a private enterprise that has not been overly financialized, its valuation depends entirely on negotiation. Alchemy once commanded a valuation multiple as high as 100x (in 2022). Although the secondary market has since cooled (according to PM Insights data, its shares trade at a ~60% discount in the secondary market, implying a valuation of ~$3B-$4B and a P/S of ~18x), it still enjoys an "Ecosystem Monopoly" premium. However, mid-to-tail companies are closer to traditional SaaS models where the business is commoditized, meaning valuations cannot reach those heights. We assign GetBlock a conservative P/S multiple of 5x - 6x (due to the lack of top-tier VC backing and the long-tail nature of its business).

Allnodes

In 2025, Allnodes' product line expanded from simple "Node Hosting" to encompass "Stablecoin Yield" and "Enterprise-Grade Hardware Services."

Business Data (Based on On-Chain Statistics):

Revenue Model: Allnodes operates on a pure SaaS subscription model (monthly/yearly fees) and takes almost 0% commission from user staking yields (0% Staking Fee). This differs significantly from Lido or general Staking Pools.

Since Allnodes is a private company and does not disclose financial reports, we must estimate its revenue based on public pricing and node scale.

Lacking VC pricing, we reference M&A multiples for similar SaaS infrastructure (4x - 6x ARR). Theoretical Valuation: In the range of $30 Million - $60 Million.

Strategic Takeaway: From a business perspective, if an acquisition of a node provider cannot be completed, the preferred alternative is to directly integrate their services and then bundle them into a consolidated offering for sale.

Data Indexing: Depending on Our Preference

The indexing technology stack has clearly diverged into three distinct generations:

Business Model Differentiation: The sector is primarily divided by whether the entity has issued a Token.

Strategic Analysis: From a business perspective, a token is not essential. Returning to fundamentals, a healthy SaaS P/S multiple in Web3 infrastructure typically falls between 8x - 15x.

We exclude The Graph (Too large), Goldsky (Too expensive), and Subsquid (Tokenized valuation is too high). Among the remaining mid-to-tail companies, our strategy focuses on:

  1. Acquiring companies with actual cash flow and stability.
  2. Selecting "Distressed/Turnaround" companies that are undervalued due to legacy ecosystem positioning but carry high transformation risks.
  3. Betting on companies pivoting towards data infrastructure for Prediction Markets.

Recommendation: For a stable business with cash flow, Bitquery remains the best choice as it is the target we are most familiar with and can operate immediately.

Distressed / Turnaround Target: Covalent

Covalent has repositioned itself as "The Data Layer for AI," with core products revolving around "Long-term Availability" and "AI Readability."

The Moat: Covalent's strength lies in the breadth of its coverage and the depth of its data.

Model & Valuation (Revenue & Buyback) Covalent has adopted a very direct "Fee Switch" model, binding SaaS revenue to token value.

Potential Risk: Supporting 230 chains sounds impressive, but it implies extremely high DevOps Costs.

Future Bet Target: Envio

Envio is positioned as "Modern Blockchain Indexing," solving the slow speed and development complexity of older protocols like The Graph. It is also aggressively expanding into data infrastructure for prediction markets.

Market Penetration: Envio is currently in the phase of capturing developer mindshare, with strong technical penetration metrics.

Business Model & Valuation: Envio utilizes a classic Freemium SaaS model and does not rely on tokenomics, making its business model clear and healthy.

Development Production Small Production Medium Production Large Dedicated
Price Free $70 $300 $800 Custom
Included Indexing Hours 750 800 800 800 Custom
Additional Indexing hours - $0.1 / hour $0.2 / hour $0.5 / hour Custom
Multichain Indexing ∞ networks 5 networks 10 networks 15 networks ∞ networks
Query Rate Limit 100 / minute 250 / minute 1,000 / minute 2,000 / minute 5,000 / minute
Approx Storage 0.1 million 1 million 10 million 100 million Unlimited
Number of Contracts 100 1,000 10,000 50,000 Unlimited
No Auto-Deletion Over Limits ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Reorg Mode ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Static Production Endpoint ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Backups ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Alerting & Monitoring ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
IP Whitelisting ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Long Term Discount ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Effects API Cache Management ✗ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓
Private Deployments ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓
Hosted Analytics Portal (Add-on) ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓
Direct Database Access ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓
Infrastructure Basic Standard Standard Standard Dedicated
Support Community Standard Standard Standard Premium
Ideal For Development Small Projects Growing Applications Large Applications Custom Needs

Revenue Estimate: As a private company in the Early Stage, the current focus is on User Growth rather than profit maximization. We estimate its ARR is likely in the $500k - $2M range, typical for a Seed/Series A SaaS company.

Valuation: Envio is a key infrastructure bet for Maven 11 Capital. Although specific amounts are undisclosed, referencing similar infrastructure projects at early stages (like Subsquid or Goldsky), and considering its VC backing, we estimate the current valuation to be in the $20 Million - $40 Million range.

Account Abstraction (AA): Nice to Have, But not Essential

Account Abstraction (AA) is the key puzzle piece in the Ethereum roadmap to achieve "Mass Adoption." Through ERC-4337 and EIP-7702 standards, Smart Contract Wallets (Smart Accounts) are enabled to support advanced features such as Gasless payments, Social Recovery, Batch Transactions, and Session Keys.

The infrastructure is primarily divided into two roles:

  1. Bundler: Replaces traditional Validators to receive UserOperations (UserOps) and bundles them into transactions on-chain.
  2. Paymaster: A smart contract that pays Gas fees on behalf of users, typically in exchange for fiat currency or ERC-20 tokens.

The business model for AA infrastructure in 2025 appears particularly difficult, characterized by "thin margins."


https://www.bundlebear.com/erc4337-overview/all

Strategic Analysis: Therefore, some technical service providers in this sector will face market compression and be forced to pivot or sell. What we are likely to acquire is a set of infrastructure technical solutions rather than a business with active cash flow. If the goal is to acquire a foundational tech stack, there is no need to prioritize targets with existing business operations, as most of that market share has already been captured by giants like Coinbase and Alchemy. Consequently, acquiring a tech stack at a low valuation in this sector is a more realistic strategy. If an acquisition is not feasible, utilizing infrastructure from major providers is a viable alternative, as costs will inevitably decrease over time.

Etherspot

Etherspot functions more like an Open-Source Technology Provider and an Enterprise Customization Service, focusing on the underlying infrastructure of Account Abstraction. It is the developer of Skandha (Bundler) and Arka (Paymaster). Etherspot not only provides WaaS but also offers backend AA support for other wallets (such as Trust Wallet). Its technical barriers are high (MEV-resistant, P2P mempool), but precisely because it focuses on B2B White-Label solutions, its valuation is undervalued due to a lack of consumer-facing brand equity.

Etherspot's technology stack is highly complete and independent (it does not rely on third-party Bundlers):

Business Model: Etherspot adopts a model combining Developer Subscriptions and Enterprise Customization Fees. Its pricing strategy is aggressive, aiming to capture the long-tail market through low prices while serving top-tier clients with premium pricing.

Financial Context: Etherspot is unique as it originated as the incubated product/technical department of the Pillar Project. Having raised approximately $21 Million (113,000 ETH) in its 2017 ICO, their funding source is likely derived from these accumulated legacy funds.

Market & Media Services: Differentiated Value-Added Parts

The Crypto Media and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) sector is a quintessential business model: once brand channels are firmly established, it generates robust cash flow, demonstrates strong anti-cyclical resilience, and offers a clear pathway for monetizing influence.

Crypto media represents a unique promotional channel within Web3. Compared to traditional media, it commands higher pricing and delivers more direct conversion rates. CoinDesk serves as the prime example of successfully integrating exhibitions with media. Its business model encompasses:

  1. Media Advertising: Traditional Banners, Newsletter sponsorships, and Annual Framework Agreements.
  2. Consensus Conference: Sponsorship revenue from a single event can reach $9 Million.
  3. CoinDesk Indices: Charging index licensing fees to ETF issuers (such as Grayscale). This represents high-margin, high-barrier recurring revenue.
  4. Data Subscriptions: Professional data terminals targeting institutions. Q1 2025 data indicates that revenue from its subscription services reached $20 Million.

Strategic Conclusion: If we layer Community and Key Opinion Leader (KOL) Marketing on top of standard market promotion—leveraging media influence to secure early project allocations (similar to the Bankless model)—these elements can be consolidated into a highly effective, comprehensive service business.