Which is the most ideal approach to deploy in your projects as a blockchain startup founder? A single chain approach or multichain?

Ever since the inception of Web3, and its subsequent adoption in the form of blockchain technology, this has been an age-old question; a question that has lingered and continued to give blockchain developers quite a hard time, as they try to figure out which approach they should adopt.

It is a debate that keeps players in the Web3 space pulling in different sides, each citing their reasons for preferring whichever approach to use in their decentralized applications (dApps) projects.

During one of these such debates at the sidelines of the CV VC summit in Cape Town, experts in the field weighed in on the seemingly never-ending discourse.

Michael Jordan, an actuarist and NFT artist, who previously worked at Polygon said the multichain approach is causing more challenges. This approach, he held, is causing complications especially among regulators, because it involves creating several “single sources of truth.”

Rooting for One Chain, A Single Source of Truth

“One chain could be focusing on one element while the other focuses on something else, causing more confusion as the regulators in turn pull in different directions,” Jordan intimated. “Developers, users, financiers; basically every stakeholder in the blockchain ecosystem is suffering the confusion caused by deployment of multichains in blockchain.”

*(Michael Jordan, an actuarist and NFT artist, who previously worked at Polygon during his submission at the debate. Photo/ Faustine Ngila)*

“The space right now isn’t very well regulated because of this multiple chain concept. Cryptography in itself isn’t simple to decode yet. And when the multichain approach is added to the mix, it becomes even more confusing.”

He noted that many now misconstrue the concept of Bitcoin’s safety, saying it can be hacked if it is run on a single chain.

This, however, he said isn’t the case, because blockchain based on one chain approach rarely gets hacked.

“Many developers are now improvising and connecting chains that, ideally, shouldn’t be connected and this fragmented approach is putting the safety of the blockchain at risk,” Jordan said. “Today, millions have already been lost to hackings because people are using multichains in the blockchain projects.”

He added: “I feel that this fragmented approach is hurting more than strengthening the Web3 -blockchain- industry.”

Blockchain, he held, has since its conceptualization, been held as the single source of truth. But now with numerous chains integrated together, it becomes sort of like ‘multiple single sources of truths’ which is quite confusing.

Furthermore, if you want to reach mass adoption, the multichain approach adds another layer of hurdles in the user experience component of the blockchain ecosystem, he added.

Multichain Approach for Mass Adoption?

*(Pravica’s CEO, Mohamed Abdou made the debate very lively, attracting participation from the audience. Photo/ Faustine Ngila)*

Web3 messaging startup Pravica’s CEO, Mohamed Abdou, while also pushing for the single chain approach noted that the biggest nightmare that Web3 startup founders face in the journey of taking their product to mass adoption is the integration of other chains to the products.

“Every single blockchain architecture has been developed using a unique infrastructure that is different from the other. It, for instance, has different wallet architectures, and smart contracts with different languages. You can hardly reach maximum mass adoption if you’re running on a multiple chain ecosystem,” Abdou said.

With the multichain approach, developers, Abdou says are perpetually living in a nightmare because in every single concept they develop, they have to add another chain to their projects, with completely different elements and smart contract languages, to satisfy users from other blockchain ecosystems. This further muddles the waters.

You ought to support developers and users with easy-to-use tools. Tools which are not complicated, according to Abdou. “Don’t go for any complicated methodologies.”

Multichain is Ideal Because People’s Needs Change With Time

But according to Devon Krantz, the founder and CEO of Web3 edtech startup, Web3 Sanctuary, you can hardly ever achieve full coordination of your blockchain project while using a single chain blockchain.

Not every one will be fully served when deploying a single chain blockchain approach in a Web3 project.

The Web3 Sanctuary founder said multichains essentially offer layer two solutions to blockchains built in the layer one tier.

*(Devon Krantz sees the future of Web3 in multichains. Why depend on a single chain while there are numerous problems to solve? Photo/ Faustine Ngila)*

“Layer one blockchains require elements like scalability, security, and decentralization, and one can not implement any one of these elements, without the others being affected. Which is what the multichain approach attempts to address in the ecosystem.”

Wayne van Niekerk, the strategic partnerships lead at Fuel Labs while also vouching for the multichain approach, noted that everyone’s needs change with time, and hence what is offered by blockchain also has to evolve.

“What happens when one layer has limitations that need to change? What happens if it doesn’t serve the purpose of a specific user?” van Niekerk posed. “The only way to improve this is by creating something new to address these changes. And this is where a multichain future is becoming crucial in blockchain because otherwise we will remain standard and redundant innovators.”

“Chains Need to Be Connected At the End of Day”

*(Wayne van Niekerk: Are your needs the same right now as when you were four years old? The world is evolving, so do human preferences, and hence the need for multichains. Photo/ Faustine Ngila)*

However, in a propitiatory reiteration, Abdou said: “I’m not asking for other chains to go away, I’m just asking for a connection between them. Without connecting the dots, we will hardly go mainstream. At the end of the day, we need the chains to be connected.”

As the technology gains ground, developers and other stakeholders in the industry, nonetheless, have to strike a balance in the appropriate approach to deploy in their products. This leaves the decision on which type of blockchain to use on the innovator’s table. It all depends on the products they’re building.

-Edited by Shigeru Sato