Appchains Vs. L1s: What is Crypto's Endgame? With Illia Polosukhin

One of our favorite pods as we were able to tackle two birds with one stone, the appchains vs. sharded L1s debate as well as key insights into the state of AI from Illia Polosukhin.

The key questions we discussed is whether apps should continue to rely on shared, sharded chains, like NEAR, or if there’s a stronger case for each app eventually becoming its own chain.

This raises important considerations around sovereignty, composability, and scalability.

At the core of this discussion is the idea that users want more control over their assets and a seamless, composable experience across different platforms. While singlechain solutions like OP Stack Chains or Cosmos SDK offer some flexibility, they often face significant scalability and interoperability challenges. This is where sharding, especially in protocols like Near, can provide a more scalable solution without sacrificing user experience. Their recent advancements, such as Chain Signatures and Nightshade V2, are paving the way for more efficient scaling.

But, isn't this the same thing? Where do you draw the line between apps sharing global state vs. composability and sovereignty?

What about customizability?

For the first half of the pod, Andy and Illia went back and forth debating the tradeoffs of appchains vs. sharded L1s, and ended up on common ground. Then, for the second half Robbie, Andy, and Illia discussed the rise of user-owned AI.

They discussed how the role of AI is becoming increasingly relevant in the blockchain space. The concept of "user-owned AI" is emerging, where AI tools could help reduce the complexity of building and maintaining infrastructure while giving users more control over their interactions. This shift towards AI could also play a significant role in improving security through formal verification, ensuring that smart contracts and protocols are more resilient against vulnerabilities.

We had the chance to ask Illia a ton of questions about his vision for AI going forward and were pleasantly surprised.

Very fun conversation starting off more technical and ending into more of the philosophical side with an focus on the evolution of AI. Enjoy!

The Rollup