Dedicated chains for your application
Build application-specific blockchains with custom gas tokens, governance, and throughput tuned for your product.
Appchains live on a spectrum. The further right you go, the more you control, and the more you are responsible for. Most teams start left and migrate right as TVL and the validator set mature.
Inherits Ethereum security through fraud or ZK proofs. Lowest trust assumption, highest base-layer cost.
Frameworks
OP Stack, Orbit, CDK, ZK Stack
ZK rollup that keeps transaction data off Ethereum. ZK validity proofs at lower cost, with a DA committee assumption.
Frameworks
Polygon CDK validium, ZK Stack validium
Optimistic rollup that posts data to a committee instead of Ethereum. Cheaper to run, and fraud proofs still let anyone challenge a bad state root.
Frameworks
AnyTrust (Arbitrum Orbit)
Publishes its data to a DA layer such as Celestia, with no settlement contract. Your chain's own nodes decide which state is canonical.
Frameworks
Cosmos SDK rollups, Sovereign SDK
Your own consensus, your own validator set, your own fork-choice. Highest sovereignty, full operational responsibility.
Frameworks
Cosmos SDK, Substrate
Each framework makes a different trade between sovereignty, finality, and interop. We build and operate on all 6, so the recommendation does not favour one stack.
Sovereign L1
Modular framework behind the IBC ecosystem. CometBFT (formerly Tendermint) consensus, with native IBC for trust-minimised interop between chains.
Picked when
DEXes, RWA chains, application-specific networks needing IBC.
Optimistic rollup
Optimism's open-source rollup framework. Opt into the Superchain and inherit shared bridging, governance, and ecosystem liquidity from day one.
Picked when
Consumer dApps, gaming, social, anything wanting Ethereum security with minimal lift.
Optimistic · AnyTrust
Orbit chains settle to Arbitrum One as an L3, or to Ethereum as an L2. AnyTrust mode trades a Data Availability Committee assumption for much lower data costs.
Picked when
Gaming, enterprise chains, anything needing custom gas and low operating cost.
ZK rollup · Validium
Polygon's Chain Development Kit for zkEVM rollups. Atomic cross-chain bridging via the AggLayer puts your chain on a shared liquidity network on day one.
Picked when
DeFi protocols valuing ZK finality and unified AggLayer liquidity.
Sovereign L1 / Parachain
The framework Polkadot is built on, now part of the Polkadot SDK. Standalone L1 or parachain on Polkadot's shared security, with BABE + GRANDPA consensus and a Wasm runtime.
Picked when
Custom protocol logic, forkless upgrades, parachain-style shared security.
ZK rollup · Validium
Matter Labs' framework with Boojum proofs and EraVM execution. Every account is a smart account: sponsored gas, paymasters, and session keys come standard.
Picked when
Consumer apps where account-abstraction UX (paymasters, session keys) is core.
Where each stack sits, what you write it in, and how long until a transaction is final.
| Framework | Model | Language | Finality | Interop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmos SDK | Sovereign L1 | Go | Single-block (CometBFT) | IBC |
| OP Stack | Optimistic rollup | Solidity + Go | 7-day challenge window | Superchain |
| Arbitrum Orbit | Optimistic · AnyTrust | Solidity + Rust | 7-day challenge window | Orbit native bridge |
| Polygon CDK | ZK rollup · Validium | Solidity | Hours (ZK proof) | AggLayer |
| Substrate | Sovereign L1 / Parachain | Rust | Deterministic (GRANDPA) | XCM |
| ZK Stack | ZK rollup · Validium | Solidity + Rust | Hours (Boojum proof) | Elastic Chain |
Cosmos SDK
OP Stack
Arbitrum Orbit
Polygon CDK
Substrate
ZK Stack
Picking deliberately on each axis is what separates an appchain from a generic deployment. We model the cost and operational impact of every option in the written recommendation.
Consensus
CometBFT (Tendermint)
Single-block finality
HotStuff
Linear, pipelined
PoS (Casper-style)
Slot-based, slashing
Optimistic / ZK
Inherits L1 finality
Gas economics
Custom ERC-20 gas
Stable-coin gas, sponsor mode
Native fee token
Validator reward, MEV capture
Gasless / paymaster
App-sponsored UX
Multi-asset gas
User picks the token
Validator set
Permissioned (you)
KYC'd validators only
Permissioned (shared)
Curated operator set
Permissionless PoS
Open delegation
DPoS / nominated
Cosmos / Polkadot style
Governance
On-chain governance
Token-weighted votes
Multi-sig council
Foundation-controlled
Hard-fork coordination
Off-chain social consensus
Hybrid
Council + on-chain ratification
Throughput
Low volume
Treasury and settlement flows
Consumer volume
Typical dApp traffic
High volume
Gaming, social
Sharded / parallelised
Move-style or rollup-of-rollups
Interop
IBC (Cosmos)
Native channel-based
Canonical bridge
OP/Orbit/CDK
LayerZero / Wormhole
Generalised messaging
Atomic swaps
Trust-minimised peers
Consensus, gas token, validator set, governance model, throughput target.
Cosmos SDK, OP Stack, Arbitrum Orbit, Polygon CDK, Substrate, ZK Stack, or a custom stack. We recommend one in writing.
Validator nodes, full nodes, RPC Endpoints, block explorer, bridge, and indexer. All managed.
Testnet in under 24 hours, then mainnet on your timeline. Continuous monitoring and upgrade management included.
DeFi
Set your own block time and validator set, and keep MEV and fee revenue inside the protocol.
Enterprise
KYC-gated validators, compliance reporting, and private data availability.
Real-world assets
Regulated chains for tokenized treasuries, real estate, and trade finance with built-in compliance hooks.
Need something specific? Talk to an engineer.
An application-specific blockchain is a chain built and operated for a single application or ecosystem. Unlike deploying on a shared L1 or L2, an appchain gives you full control over throughput, fee economics, consensus parameters, and governance.
Appchains make sense when you need custom gas economics, want to capture MEV, have throughput needs that congest base layers, require permissioned validator sets, or want sovereign control over chain upgrades. They're rarely the right call for early-stage apps with low transaction volume.
Costs depend on framework, validator-set size, throughput, and DA layer. Managed infrastructure is quoted per engagement, with DA and settlement costs passed through on top. You get a cost model for your specific design before contracting.
Request a quote →A rollup settles to and inherits security from a base layer (Ethereum, usually). An appchain might be a sovereign L1, a rollup, or anything in between. We support both. Many teams start as a rollup and migrate to sovereign once they have meaningful TVL and decentralized validators.
Yes. You can run all validators, run some validators while we run the rest, or have us operate the full set under contract. Most permissioned appchains start with us as primary operator and decentralize over time.
Yes. Native framework bridges (OP Stack canonical bridge, Orbit native bridge, IBC for Cosmos), plus integrations with third-party bridges like LayerZero, Wormhole, and Axelar.
Testnet in under 24 hours once the architecture is agreed. Mainnet follows once tokenomics design, audits, and validator coordination are done; we set that date with you in the engagement plan.
Bring us your application; we model the framework, consensus, gas, and interop choices, cost each one, and then operate the chain we build with you.