Will Rollups Shift Toward Application-Specific Chains
Yes, but not all Rollups will move to application-specific chains. The incentive stems from economic rewards—applications can capture sequencer revenue, customize fee models, and avoid congestion from shared block space by building their own chain. The friction comes from the cost of interoperability and liquidity fragmentation. Consequently, leading applications and protocols with clear revenue models will transition to appchains first, while small and medium applications will remain on general-purpose Rollups.
A leading global cryptocurrency platform,suitable for both beginners and experienced traders.
New user benefit: 20% off trading fees upon registration!！
Why Applications Are Considering "Building Their Own Chain"
Appchains are not a new concept. For years, the barrier to running an appchain remained high—you needed to set up nodes, maintain consensus, and handle cross-chain issues. But from 2024 to 2025, three structural changes turned "building your own chain" from a niche choice into a standard option.
First, Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS) lowered the cost of launching a chain from "heavy capital expenditure" to "acceptable."
Caldera helped teams deploy over 100 chains in two years, covering 40 million unique wallets. Deploying a rollup went from a 3–4 month engineering cycle to a matter of selecting configuration options. The maturation of frameworks like OP Stack, Arbitrum Orbit, zkSync Hyperchains means you no longer need to write code from scratch to launch a chain.
Second, the Dencun upgrade fundamentally changed the cost structure of L2s.
After EIP-4844 introduced blob space, the cost of L2s posting data to Ethereum mainnet dropped by over 90%. Lower costs significantly reduce the operational burden of running a chain—previously only top applications could afford a chain, now mid-scale applications can also make the numbers work.
Third, applications are increasingly demanding sequencer revenue.
When you deploy an application on a general-purpose L2, you are essentially "renting block space" from the Rollup operator; the sequencer revenue goes entirely to the operator, not to you. An analyst's 2025 prediction directly pointed out this trend: "Applications are beginning to 'arm themselves,' demanding the revenue they deserve, or they will move to their own chain, or choose an underlying chain willing to share revenue." Owning your chain means you can control your own sequencer and internalize transaction fees and MEV revenue into your economic model.
Which Applications Are Most Suitable for Appchains
Scenario A: Large applications with stable revenue models.
Stablecoin issuers are pioneers. Circle issues native USDC on Cosmos via Noble, Frax is developing Fraxchain, Aave is considering a GHO-centric L2, and MakerDAO considered building NewChain for DAI governance. These projects share commonalities: high transaction volume, clear user willingness to pay, and sequencer revenue from an own chain that can be converted into substantial profits.
Scenario B: Scenarios requiring strict customization for user experience.
Appchains can customize gas tokens (letting users pay gas directly with stablecoins), adjust block times (Reya achieved 100-millisecond block times), and avoid the "noisy neighbor" problem (congestion from other projects in shared block space won't affect you). For gaming, high-frequency trading, and payment applications, such customization can deliver decisive improvements in user experience.
Scenario C: Applications that have achieved scale but are constrained by the shared environment of a general-purpose chain.
When your application on a general L2 faces rising transaction failure rates and unpredictable gas fees due to network congestion, moving to your own chain can "internalize" these external variables. This is not "building a chain for the sake of a chain," but controlling variables during growth.
Scenario D: Small and medium applications that have not yet reached scale.
These applications are not ready for their own chain for now. The reason: The biggest cost of an appchain is not technology, but ecosystem cold start. Many teams spend months building a chain, only to find upon launch that no wallets support it, no applications want to migrate, and users don't come; three months later, daily active users are in the single digits. Deploying on a general L2 lets you immediately tap into existing wallets, liquidity, user bases, and developer tools.
The Main Obstacle to Transition: Interoperability
The greatest cost of an appchain is not technical cost, but isolation.
When your application migrates from a general L2 to its own chain, you leave the original liquidity pools and user network. Cross-chain interactions still rely on L1 paths—slow, expensive, and unpredictable. Bridges are either secure but slow, or fast but questionable in security.
This is precisely what the industry is now trying to solve. Caldera's Metalayer acts as a "connectivity layer"—so appchains don't need to be islands from day one, automatically gaining wallet support, asset liquidity, and application networks. If such connectivity layer solutions can scale, the interoperability bottleneck of appchains will be greatly alleviated.
Confirm Whether This Trend Affects You
Step 1: Check whether the applications you follow are building their own chains.
Open your commonly used DeFi protocols or wallets, and check the project's official website for "Roadmap" or "Blog" sections. If terms like "Appchain," "Rollup," "L2" appear with a timeline within the next 12 months, it indicates the project is considering or has already started building its own chain.
Step 2: Assess what an appchain means for you.
Case A: You are an ordinary user. An appchain may mean lower fees (if you mainly use that application) and a more stable transaction experience, but it also means you need to hold the gas token on the new chain and handle cross-chain operations. If the project does not provide smooth on-ramp and cross-chain paths, your cost of use may increase initially.
Case B: You are an investor holding the project's token. If the appchain successfully captures sequencer revenue and feeds it back to token holders (via buybacks, distribution, etc.), the token's economic model will be strengthened. But if the project is merely "building a chain for the sake of it" without a clear revenue distribution mechanism, the appchain may just be a cost outlay without bringing value growth.
Definition of done: You have confirmed whether the leading applications you follow have plans for an appchain, and assessed the impact on yourself.
Risk Reminder
An appchain does not equal success. Many teams spend heavily to launch a chain, only to find user growth far below expectations. The chain's technology is solid, but the ecosystem didn't take off, and it ends up an "empty chain."
Interoperability risks remain. Even with connectivity layers, cross-chain asset transfers may still face slippage, latency, and security risks. If you need to move assets frequently across multiple appchains, it's advisable to test with small amounts first.
Compliance costs may rise. Running your own chain gives the project stronger control over on-chain activity, but also more compliance responsibility, especially under regulatory frameworks like the EU's MiCA.
A leading global cryptocurrency platform,suitable for both beginners and experienced traders.
New user benefit: 20% off trading fees upon registration!！
How to Confirm Completion
Open the DApp you frequently use, and check its website or documentation for descriptions about "network/chain." If it has already migrated or plans to migrate to its own Rollup, the official website usually has a dedicated technical announcement. If there is no clear appchain plan within the next 6–12 months, this project is not currently part of this trend.
Next step: If the appchain trend prompts you to adjust your holdings or usage strategy, prioritize projects that have clearly published appchain roadmaps and have real user bases (such as stablecoin issuers, top DeFi protocols), rather than new projects "launching a chain for the narrative." Whether an appchain succeeds ultimately depends on whether it solves real user problems, not on the mere fact that it "has a chain."
