Over the past month, three of the largest DeFi applications — Uniswap, Hyperliquid, and Ethena — have all officially announced the release of their own general purpose blockchains. Collectively, these decisions seem to hinge on the belief that it is apps and not blockchains that ultimately control the end-user. In other words, if users go where the apps go, why not bring these users to your own general purpose chain?

While this vertically integrated approach implicitly broadens the TAM of these protocols, it also means that these apps are now directly converging on the same vision.

Let’s unpack the bull case for each respective app and entertain the downstream implications for other general purpose chains.

Ethena

Of each of the vertical integrators, Ethena’ starting point is the most unconventional. While Uniswap and Hyperliquid are by definition more traditional applications, Ethena is instead using their synthetic dollar product as an initial wedge. While this approach may sound counterintuitive as Ethena lacks a direct relationship with the end user, I made the case back in August that Ethena ironically is coming from one of the best starting points to vertically integrate:

“Downstream of disproportionately providing flow to exchanges, Ethena seems well-positioned to leverage this dynamic to provide exchanges with Open I