Open Transaction Layer launched Thursday with a large group of crypto, payments and financial infrastructure companies trying to standardize how onchain transactions are coordinated before they settle.
The initiative, known as OTL, is designed as an open protocol stack for identity, messaging and transaction coordination across institutions, unhosted wallets and AI agents
Its founding group includes Fireblocks, B2C2, Checkout.com, Cross River Bank, FalconX, MetaMask, MoonPay, Robinhood (NASDAQ: $HOOD), Securitize, SoFi (NASDAQ: $SOFI), WalletConnect, Wintermute, zerohash and several blockchain foundations through the Blockchain Payments Consortium. The launch targets a practical bottleneck in institutional crypto. Blockchains can move value across networks, but financial firms still need ways to identify counterparties, exchange compliance data, coordinate payment context and decide whether a transaction should proceed before funds move.
Without a common layer, each new wallet type, jurisdiction or counterparty can require another custom integration. More From Cryptoprowl: OTL is trying to make that coordination reusable. The specifications draw on existing standards including W3C DIDs, IVMS101, ISO 20022 and CAIP-19, then organize them into a modular system covering discovery, coordination, compliance and settlement.