Chris, Product Manager at Ozean, shares how their Layer 2 infrastructure is transforming Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization. As an Optimism-based rollup focused on yield-bearing assets, Ozean delivers enterprise-grade performance while maintaining the accessibility developers need to build innovative DeFi solutions.
With their flagship Port product approaching mainnet launch, Chris shares insights on supporting builders through grants, seamless RWA integration, and collaborative partnerships – including their work with dRPC to ensure reliable, low-latency infrastructure that scales with developer demands.
Interview with Chris from Ozean ⤵️
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role in the ecosystem?
Hello, I’m Chris, a Product Manager at Ozean. Over the past three years, I have been focused on developing advanced DeFi products, including the Ozean Optimism RWA L2 Rollup, the NFT AMM platform Caviar, and Cross-Chain Liquidity AMMs such as Thorchain and Maya Protocol.
Within the Ozean ecosystem, my responsibilities include product specification, ideation, design, and the execution of key initiatives. These include our LGE/Pre-Deposit campaign, our Grants program, the DeFi Opportunities page, tokenomics, and frontend enhancements—each aimed at optimizing the user experience.
What is your team currently focused on? Are there any recent initiatives you’re particularly excited about?
At present, the Ozean team is focused on the upcoming Mainnet launch, with the flagship product, Port, leading the way. Port is an on-chain vault infrastructure that aims to enhance liquidity, accessibility, and diversification for yield-bearing Real-World Assets (RWAs). In our Vision document, we explain how Ozean is bridging the gap between decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional finance by integrating RWAs into the blockchain ecosystem. By introducing an ETF-like structure, Port facilitates liquidity and diversification, offering investors a secure portfolio of income-generating assets.
In what ways does Ozean support developers — from funding and infrastructure to education and community?
Grants & Incentives for RWA Projects: Ozean offers grants for projects focused on integrating RWAs into the blockchain ecosystem and dApps who are increasing the utility around RWAs such as Money Markets, Perpetuals, AMMs, and Tokenization. This could include tokenization of physical assets like real estate or commodities, and Ozean helps fund initiatives that bridge the gap between traditional finance and blockchain technology.
Seamless RWA Integration: Developers building applications that deal with Real World Assets can seamlessly integrate their on-chain and off-chain operations via Ozean’s infrastructure. The rollup architecture ensures that RWAs can be tokenized, tracked, and managed in a cost-effective and efficient way.
Collaboration with Optimism Community: Being built on Optimism, Ozean connects developers to a broader community of Layer 2 builders, fostering cross-collaboration and opportunities to integrate into the Optimism ecosystem.
Collaborations for RWA Solutions: Through its strategic partnerships, Ozean allows developers to integrate their RWA-based applications with institutional investors, creating a robust marketplace for digital assets backed by physical-world value.
What’s one thing you’re especially proud of when it comes to how your ecosystem has supported developers recently?
One thing Ozean should be especially proud of is its developer-focused approach to making Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization more accessible and scalable on a Layer 2 network. Recently, Ozean’s efforts to provide developers with not just scalable infrastructure but also hands-on educational resources for tokenizing real-world assets have made a real impact.
This is particularly impressive because the RWA space—where physical-world assets like real estate, commodities, or even debt instruments are brought onto the blockchain—presents unique technical challenges. Ozean has managed to simplify this process for developers by leveraging Optimism’s Layer 2 rollups. The platform’s ability to offer low-fee, high-throughput solutions for building decentralized applications (dApps) in the RWA tokenization space, while simultaneously making it easy for developers to integrate those assets into DeFi protocols, is a huge win.
How do you see the Ozean ecosystem evolving over the next 1–2 years? What about the longer-term vision, over 5–10 years?
In the 1–2 year horizon, Ozean is focusing on perfecting its Layer 2 infrastructure, expanding RWA tokenization, growing its developer base, and pushing for adoption among DeFi projects. Over 5–10 years, the project will evolve into a leading platform for the decentralization of traditional finance, offering a fully integrated ecosystem for trading tokenized assets, creating decentralized financial products, and expanding into a global network of RWA-backed DeFi solutions. This longer-term vision positions Ozean to be a pivotal player in the convergence of traditional and decentralized finance, with global asset tokenization and financial inclusion at its core.
Ozean is currently working with dRPC as an infrastructure partner — how has that collaboration helped your ecosystem so far, and where do you see it going next?
The collaboration between Ozean and dRPC has already delivered significant value in terms of scalability, performance, and developer experience. By providing low-latency, high-throughput RPC infrastructure, dRPC ensures that Ozean can continue to scale its Layer 2 ecosystem and meet the growing demands of the community, particularly in the areas of RWA tokenization and DeFi.
In the future, as Ozean grows, the partnership with dRPC will likely deepen, especially as Ozean seeks to optimize its ecosystem for real-time interactions, cross-chain interoperability, and advanced financial products. The integration of more customized solutions, real-time data analytics, and secure RPC for high-value transactions will ensure that Ozean remains a leading player in the blockchain space, delivering fast, secure, and scalable solutions to its growing developer base.
How is your ecosystem approaching decentralization — in governance, infrastructure, or community involvement?
Ozean’s approach to decentralization will likely follow a progressive, phased strategy, focusing on decentralized governance, infrastructure, and community involvement. The key drivers for decentralization will be Layer 2 scalability (through Optimism), open-source development, community-led growth, and the seamless integration of tokenized Real World Assets (RWAs) into the broader decentralized ecosystem. As the ecosystem matures, Ozean will increasingly embrace a fully decentralized governance structure and offer decentralized solutions for asset-backed financial products, contributing to the vision of a trustless, secure, and inclusive decentralized finance platform.
