Appchains vs general-purpose (GP) chains is the debate that just won’t die. Both models have merits, but when we look at history and economics, the case for building perps on a general-purpose (GP) chain becomes self-evident.

In fact, it’s exactly backwards to think apps should spin up their own chains. The best apps should subsidize GP chains, not splinter off into lonely silos.

Finance Consolidates

Finance doesn’t fragment—it consolidates.

The U.S. had ~30,000 banks in 1921. Today? ~4,300. Down 86%. Why? Shared rails, common standards, efficient settlement. Fewer rails, more liquidity, more scale.

Every year we get another batch of shiny new blockchains. And yet, despite the Cambrian explosion of alternatives, Ethereum—slow, expensive Ethereum—is still #1 in TVL. By a lot. Almost 10x bigger than Solana.

Here are the top 5 in all their glory as of August 31, 2025.

Source: https://defillama.com/chain/ethereum

After Ethereum, the leaderboard is a bunch more general purpose chains. Eventually, you get to HyperEVM, another general purpose chain, which runs Hyperliquid—the only truly successful appchain ever built.

Shared settlement is the endgame. Not fragmented app-specific silos.

Distribution Is Everything

A common refrain is that general purpose chains “only solve distribution.” Only? That’s like saying a drug “only” cures cancer. In finance, distribution is the game.

How distinguishable are the financial products you use day to day across providers?

From checking accounts all the way down to NYSE vs Nasdaq, I struggle to see a difference in these businesses other than their ability to distribute and existing network effects. Servers are cheap. Distribution is priceless.

Platform Economics: The Real Lesson

Platforms are powerful distributors.

The history of platforms — operating systems, the App Store, Xbox, the internet, and most recently Telegram — is incredibly clear, breakout applications support platforms, either by choice or force, they do not abandon them.

Think about how powerful distribution is for platforms. How many apps on your iPhone have you downloaded without the AppStore? How often do you visit websites without your browser? TikTok did not build a better operating system. Facebook did not build a better browser. Halo did not build a better Xbox.

In fact, the opposite of the current sentiment is true: the best applications are incentivized to subsidize development of the platform.

Break out apps want the platform to succeed. It’s a flywheel: apps bring distribution, distribution brings more apps, which brings more distribution.

Blockchains fix the only real downside of platforms (platform risk) by decentralizing governance. No one’s getting Farmvilled on a decentralized platform. You get all the upside of platforms, none of the squeeze. That’s the whole point. And yes, MegaETH is centralized due to the inherent trade-offs today in performance vs decentralization; the end matters more than the beginning.

Conclusion: Network Goods Win

Finance consolidates. Platforms dominate. Distribution beats product features.

And blockchains deviate from history only in that they turbocharge these effects.

The future is perps (and every killer app) making the strongest GP chains even stronger. Because network effects don’t fragment. They stack.

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