Coinbase’s State of Crypto Q2 report has underscored a critical inflection point for the industry. Enterprise interest in stablecoins has expanded sharply. Over $27 trillion in stablecoin volume was recorded in the last year. 80% of crypto-aware SMBs now express intent to use stablecoins. One in five Fortune 500 executives consider onchain infrastructure core to their long-term strategy.
Enterprise adoption of stablecoins is progressing quickly, with integrations moving from experimental pilots to active financial operations. As this shift accelerates, expectations around security, governance, and infrastructure are becoming more defined and more demanding.
Coinbase itself has embraced this transition, maintaining a Web3SOC profile as part of its broader institutional engagement. As capital allocators, public companies, and regulated actors move deeper into the ecosystem, the absence of a common evaluative standard has become increasingly visible.
Where adoption moves faster than alignment
Organizations handling enterprise use cases must demonstrate maturity across multiple dimensions: security, governance, operational stability, and regulatory awareness. Yet there remains no universal framework to signal readiness or benchmark progress.
In traditional finance, institutional engagement is underpinned by decades of standardized due diligence, ratings infrastructure, and shared assumptions about organizational design. In Web3, every diligence process is built from scratch. This results in inefficiency, inconsistent outcomes, and avoidable risk.
Web3SOC introduces structure where it has been missing.
The Web3SOC Framework
Developed through direct input from institutional stakeholders, security leaders, and protocol operators, Web3SOC is a classification system designed to evaluate decentralized organizations against institution-grade standards.
It maps each protocol across four key domains:
- Operational governance and coordination
- Financial design and resilience
- Security infrastructure and responsiveness
- Regulatory posture and compliance strategy
Each organization is assigned a maturity tier that reflects its current standing, with clear pathways for progress. These tiers offer a reference point for institutions and DeFi organizations to assess institutional alignment without requiring bespoke investigation.
Cantina and the Infrastructure for Readiness
Cantina provides the platform layer for realizing Web3SOC in practice. Organizations engaging with Cantina receive structured reviews, modular assessments, and coordination across specialized researcher teams. The platform supports continuous improvement across the same dimensions defined by the Web3SOC model.
This approach is already in use by protocols operating at enterprise scale. From stablecoin issuers to financial primitives, teams are using Cantina to build credibility and resilience into their infrastructure.
Institutions, in turn, benefit from standardized reference points that enable faster decision-making, reduced diligence overhead, and improved signal fidelity.
A Convergence of Signals
Coinbase’s recent findings highlight a clear shift in institutional behavior. Capital is moving, usage is increasing, and stablecoins are now part of enterprise workflows. What remains unresolved is the structural framework needed to assess the maturity of the protocols supporting this growth.
Web3SOC is a framework built to meet this moment. It transforms individual assessments into a shared language. It makes maturity legible. And it positions organizations for long-term alignment with the institutions now shaping the next era of digital finance.
Request an end-to-end Organization Assessment with Cantina. Contact us today!