Appchains: The End of General-Purpose Chains?!

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Web3, huh? Seems like everything’s a “seismic shift” these days. So, now Uniswap and Kraken, big shots, right? They’re too good for the regular blockchains? Base and Solana? Oh, please. They think they’re too big for their britches. Custom-built appchains? Sounds like a colossal pain in the you-know-what. But hey, if it keeps ’em happy… 🙄

The hard ceiling on general-purpose blockchains

General-purpose blockchains, yeah, yeah, instrumental in the rise of web3, blah, blah, blah. Ethereum, Solana, and Base, the holy trinity or something. They provided liquidity? More like they provided a headache. Developers and communities? Sounds like a bunch of people complaining on Twitter. Network effects? More like network defects, am I right? 🤣

But, as the industry matures, it sounds like they kinda suck? Shared infrastructure, high fees? Sounds like New York City. Rigid tokenomics? As if anyone understands that crap anyway. Large-scale projects gotta compromise? Welcome to life. 🤷‍♂️

Uniswap’s UniChain, a custom L2? Optimized functionality? Probably just another way to lose money. Kraken building an Ethereum L2 Superchain? Super… complicated. The benefits of shared blockchains aren’t worth the costs? Well, duh. These companies reached a scale? More like they reached their breaking point. 🤦‍♂️

This isn’t an isolated trend? You mean everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon to overcomplicate things? Once projects hit a critical mass, they are too compelled? I guess, that’s fine with me, I’m just trying to drink my coffee here.

The appchain advantage

Designing their own appchain infrastructure? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Optimize for performance? Reduce costs? And align more effectively with their specific needs? Good luck with that. 🍀

One of the most notable advantages of appchains is scalability. On general-purpose blockchains, they need to compete for blockspace? Congestion and unpredictable fees? Sounds like the subway at rush hour. Appchains remove these limitations? I’ll believe it when I see it. A gaming studio could eliminate transaction delays? High-speed interactions? More seamless gameplay experience? Please, it’s still gonna be laggy. 😒

Cost efficiency is another critical factor. High gas fees? Appchains let projects control their own cost structures? Optimizing for throughput? Transaction fees low—or even eliminating them entirely? What’s the catch? This is particularly valuable for applications that require frequent on-chain interactions? NFT marketplaces? More like NFT overhyped things.

Appchains are also opening the door for web2 companies? Businesses accustomed to tightly controlled and highly optimized infrastructure? General-purpose blockchains too restrictive? Seamless user experience is paramount? Decentralization, shme-centralization. A loyalty rewards program could build an appchain? Slick user experience? Good luck getting that to work. This would be much more difficult to achieve on a congested general-purpose blockchain? You don’t say. 🙄

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Steven Gates

Steven Gates is the founder of GoGoPool, a decentralized staking protocol on Avalanche that empowers projects to launch and grow their own L1 blockchains. GoGoPool’s L1 marketplace lets projects easily attract validators and foster engagement, making it seamless for anyone to build and scale a thriving blockchain community. Steven previously founded DeepHire, a video interview platform designed to streamline the hiring process. It allows recruiters to conduct one-way video interviews and assess candidates more efficiently.

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2025-03-27 15:00