On June 14, 2025, Jesse Pollak, widely recognized for his association with Coinbase, painted an exhilarating picture. His goal is to make blockchain payments the default payment option with the big merchant platform providers – of which Shopify is a good example of the scale he’s seeking. The declaration provoked massive market motion, of which SHOP stock, Ethereum (ETH), and all corresponding on-chain networks have been on a significant upward development.

Pollak announced the development of on-chain payment solutions tailored to large-scale, commerce platforms in particular. These solutions offer the potential of faster settlement times, reduced transaction costs, and 24/7 global operations without the need for banks as intermediaries. He explicitly used Shopify as an example of the scale required for such a payment solution to have a major impact.

The announcement thrilled the markets. Woah, hold the phone – one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms might be getting ready to embrace blockchain technology! That excitement translated instantaneously into the outperformance of other connected assets.

Among the major retail stocks, SHOP stock had one of the biggest days, popping 3.2% to $67.45. The stock broke decisively above its 50-day moving average of $65.80 on a significant volume spike, signaling a potential shift in investor sentiment.

Ethereum (ETH) surged a lot, rising 4.5% to $3,280.50. The wider crypto market was happy too, with the total crypto market cap gaining more than 2%.

That positive sentiment translated to on-chain activity, especially across associated networks such as Base. Base is an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) scaling solution, designed to increase transaction speed and reduce associated costs. Even more telling, on-chain data backed up all that excitement and hype surrounding the announcement. Transactions on the Base network increased by 15% in just 24 hours, demonstrating the growing user activity, interest, and demand on the platform.

Faster settlement times — in minutes rather than days — are a qualitative leap in transaction efficiency. Reducing transaction fees would have a significant impact on saving merchants and consumers money. The potential for them to operate 24/7 globally with no intermediaries such as banks creates exciting new opportunities for international commerce and financial inclusion.

The market’s enthusiastic response was further highlighted by other trends in the digital asset space. According to CoinShares, crypto investment funds recorded $320 million of inflows this week, the largest in three weeks. This increase is indicative of a newfound confidence by institutional investors.

The potential integration of blockchain technology into a major e-commerce platform like Shopify could represent a significant step toward mainstream adoption of decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions. This effort proves to the wider industry how blockchain can be applied on a practical scale. It could lead to even more innovation and help the industry draw new investment into the area.