Andre Cronje, co-founder of Sonic Labs, has criticized layer-2 (L2) appchains, saying they are not practical for builders.
In a post on X on October 13, Cronje expressed concerns about high infrastructure costs, fragmented liquidity, and inadequate support for developers. He believes these challenges hinder widespread adoption of appchains.
Appchains are custom-built Blocks designed to meet the specific needs of decentralized applications (DApps) or a set of specific functionalities.
Source: Andre Cronje
Costs and support: Cronje vs. Hilmar
Cronje's main criticism is the high costs of deploying and maintaining appchains. He said that infrastructure costs like legal compliance and Oracles are rapidly increasing.
He shared that his team's infrastructure costs this year have reached $14 million. He noted that many of these recurring costs make it difficult for developers to focus on the core application and users.
Hilmar Orth, founder of Gelato Network, disagrees with Cronje's assessment. Orth argues that the necessary infrastructure is now easily accessible through rollup-as-a-service (RaaS) providers.
Orth believes developers don't need to build infrastructure from scratch, pointing to the support from framework teams and existing RaaS providers. He refutes Cronje's concerns about isolation, claiming that support for appchains is readily available.
Source: Hilmar
Liquidity and security: Cronje vs. Boiron
Cronje also expressed concerns about fragmented liquidity in appchains, arguing that liquidity is forced into bridges, which are "centralized and vulnerable".
Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, introduced AggLayer as a potential solution to address many of these liquidity issues by creating an interconnected network of appchains.
Boiron's perspective shows an optimistic view on managing appchain liquidity if it is made interoperable across multiple Chains, effectively mitigating the risk of fragmentation.
Orth echoes this optimism, stating that rollups come with integrated bridges and market makers, and "faster zk proofs" optimize the movement of funds.
Source: Marc Boiron
Debate on community and network effects
Cronje also claimed that L2, in the form of appchains, lack "user or builder community", reducing the necessary network effects for appchains to thrive.
Boiron disagrees, stating that community and network effects remain strong, adding that there are "a lot of friends" contributing to AggLayer as community members to "help grow the pie".
Hilmar also refutes the community statements of both Cronje and Boiron. He said that builders often "compete for users and are not friends. That's the reality."
The ongoing debate between Cronje, Orth, and Boiron continues to attract attention on X, highlighting the divergent views on L2 in the form of appchains.
