As crypto traders continue to compete, DoubleZero is pushing for fairer market data access

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As crypto adoption soars, the latest wave of infrastructure development is increasingly focused on a critical, but less discussed layer: how quickly and evenly market data is made available across networks.

That issue is what DoubleZero’s new product, Edge, a market data distribution platform, aims to solve by improving how users access real-time information on blockchains. The premise is straightforward: in fragmented, decentralized systems, not all participants see the same data at the same time, and that asymmetry can shape market outcomes.

In traditional finance, firms build trading strategies around predictable execution speeds and standardized access to market data. In contrast, crypto markets operate with significant variability.

“There are entire industries dedicated to distributing data,” Tom Warner, head of business development at DoubleZero, said on StrataMedia’s Talking Tokens podcast recently. “The challenge with crypto is, it’s very hard for all participants to have an equal and consistent understanding of what just happened.” 

There are a variety of reasons for this, from geographic distance from validators to network congestion and inconsistent infrastructure, but as a result, the lack of standardization creates an uneven playing field. People who are simply closer to infrastructure like the validators processing transactions, may enjoy temporary speed advantages over traders who are farther away.

DoubleZero says its new market data distribution platform Edge fixes that by aggregating validator data and then redistributing it, effectively sending information to recipients simultaneously.

The goal, Warner said, is to reduce the fragmentation in access to market data and improve overall market efficiency. “If market participants all have the same and fast access to market data, then the markets themselves can get tighter,” he said, arguing that it would result in narrower bid-ask spreads and higher liquidity.

Edge’s approach derives from the Solana blockchain, where transaction data is broken into units, or “shreds.” These fragments represent near-real-time snapshots of network activity, including trades, balances, and validator decisions.

Warner compared this process to a checkout system, where each validator processes transactions in short windows, producing a record of activity that other validators must confirm. 

Still, accessing and distributing this data has historically been limited to well-resourced users, like major market makers or trading firms. DoubleZero is attempting to open up access by sourcing shreds from validators and distributing them more widely, while enabling those validators to monetize the data they produce.

“If you’re trading sizable capital, you need predictability,” Warner said. “[Today], a trade may take one second or 20 minutes. That’s not a viable way to make money.”

This ties back to a broader shift in crypto, where infrastructure constraints are increasingly viewed as hurdles for adoption and the user experience. In tandem, the push for better data infrastructure aligns with growing interest in bringing traditional financial activity onchain, facilitating concepts like tokenized securities and 24/7 trading markets.

“There’s clearly an appetite for 24/7 markets that don’t close,” Warner said, though he acknowledged that most legacy systems are not designed for that model.

This doesn’t mean DoubleZero is positioning itself as a competitor to blockchains, but rather as an underlying infrastructure provider. The strategy is to improve performance across multiple networks rather than compete at the application or protocol level, Warner explained.

“We can raise the floor of performance for crypto and let the [blockchains] compete,” Warner said. The open question, however, is how fast markets can move and whether all participants can move at the same speed going forward.

Check out the next section for more details and the full episode.

For today’s episode, I interviewed Tom Warner, head of BD at DoubleZero, about why crypto is fundamentally limited by the public internet and how a new high-performance network layer could change everything.

Tom explains how blockchains like Solana are hitting a performance ceiling not because of the chains themselves, but because of the infrastructure they run on. He breaks down how traditional finance firms rely on private, ultra-fast networks, why crypto has never had access to that level of connectivity, and how DoubleZero is building a decentralized alternative using subsea cables and high-performance routing.

The conversation covers the launch of DoubleZero Edge, a real-time market data distribution platform designed to level the playing field for traders, why predictable latency matters more than raw speed, and how crypto still lags behind Wall Street in execution reliability. Tom also explains Solana “shreds” through a simple analogy, how multicast technology changes data distribution, and why inconsistent transaction timing is one of the biggest barriers to institutional capital.

They also explore the future of 24/7 markets, the convergence of DeFi and traditional finance, the growing tension between banks and stablecoins, and what still needs to happen before crypto becomes the dominant financial system.

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Please note this content is for informational and educational purposes only. Any views shared should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research. We may have a direct or indirect financial interest in content mentioned in this newsletter.