Written by: World Capital Markets
Translated by: Saoirse, Foresight News
The debate between application chains (Appchains) and general-purpose chains (GP Chains) has never ceased. Both models have their advantages, but when viewed from a historical and economic perspective, the rationale for building perpetual contracts on general-purpose chains is self-evident.
In fact, the idea that applications should build their own independent chains is completely putting the cart before the horse. Truly high-quality applications should support general-purpose chains, rather than splitting into isolated "information islands."
The Essence of Finance is Integration, Not Fragmentation
The development pattern of the financial industry has never been about decentralization, but about continuous integration.
In 1921, there were about 30,000 banks in the United States; today, that number has dropped to about 4,300, a decrease of 86%. Why did this change occur? The answer lies in shared infrastructure, unified standards, and efficient settlement mechanisms. The fewer the infrastructures, the stronger the liquidity and the more significant the scale effect.
Although a batch of new blockchain projects emerges every year, and despite the endless stream of alternatives like a "Cambrian explosion," Ethereum, a blockchain that is slow and costly, still firmly holds the top spot in total value locked (TVL) rankings, with a huge lead: its scale is almost 10 times that of Solana.
Below are the top five blockchains by total value locked as of August 31, 2025
Data source:
After Ethereum, the ranking is still dominated by general-purpose chains. In the end, you will see HyperEVM—another general-purpose chain that supports the operation of Hyperliquid; and Hyperliquid is so far the only truly successful application chain.
This shows that shared settlement is the ultimate direction for blockchain finance, not fragmented "application-specific islands."
Distribution is Core: The "Winning Key" in Finance
There is a common saying that "general-purpose chains only solve the distribution problem." "Only" solve it? This is like saying "a medicine only cures cancer." In finance, distribution itself is the core competitive advantage.
How big are the differences between the financial products you use daily across different service providers?
From checking accounts to the comparison between the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq, apart from "distribution capability" and "established network effects," it is hard to find any fundamental differences between these businesses. You know, hardware costs like servers are cheap, but distribution capability is priceless.
Platform Economics: The Real Revelation
Platforms are extremely influential distribution carriers.
Looking back at the history of platforms—from operating systems, App Stores, Xbox game consoles, to the Internet, and more recently Telegram—the pattern is crystal clear: those breakthrough applications, whether by choice or by necessity, end up supporting the platform rather than developing independently away from it.
Just think about the importance of distribution to platforms: how many apps on your iPhone are not downloaded through the App Store? How many times have you accessed a website without using a browser? TikTok did not build a better operating system, Facebook did not develop a better browser, and Halo did not manufacture a better Xbox console.
In fact, contrary to some current opinions: high-quality applications are actually motivated to support the development of the platform.
Popular applications want the platform to succeed, which creates a "flywheel effect": applications bring traffic, traffic attracts more applications, which in turn brings more traffic.
Blockchain, through decentralized governance, solves the only core drawback of traditional platforms—"platform risk" (i.e., the platform side may unilaterally change rules, restrict applications, etc.). On a decentralized platform, there will no longer be cases like FarmVille's decline due to changes in platform rules. You can enjoy all the advantages of the platform without bearing the risk of being "exploited by the platform." Of course, it should be noted that due to the inherent trade-off between "performance" and "decentralization" in current technology, MegaETH still has some centralized attributes; but what matters is the ultimate goal, not the initial state.
Conclusion: Network Effects Drive "Winner Takes All"
The financial industry is continuously integrating, platforms dominate distribution, and distribution capability is more important than product features.
The only difference between blockchain and historical patterns is that it will further amplify these effects.
The future trend is: perpetual contracts (as well as all "killer apps") will make leading general-purpose chains even stronger. Because network effects do not fragment, they only stack and intensify.
