Note: This post was written in September 2022, but kept as a draft. I have published it retroactively for reflection.

Note: This is an evolving work, and I would love to hear your feedback, be it as a builder, investor, or web3 native.

One liner:

The future is inevitably multi-chain, hence we invest in infrastructure, products, and middleware that enable and tap into the potential of cross-chain.

One paragraph:

It is impossible for one blockchain or one ecosystem alone to encapsulate all the needs of Web3. Hence the future is inevitably multi-chain. With this paradigm as a foundation, we invest in solutions that create more blockspace (scaling), perform specialised functions (modular), help blockchains communicate (interoperability), offer cross-chain products (across DeFi, NFT, DAO), and simplify the multi-chain experience for users and developers (middleware).

One page:

Why the obsession with multi-chain? History and nature have taught us that in a world that is constantly in flux, the stable state is plurality, and the optimal state is specialised symbiosis. Just as the world fragments into empires, countries, provinces, neighbourhoods, families, and individuals; Just as nature fragments into habitats, species, organs, cells, and cellular organelles — So will blockchains fragment to form a multi-chain, modular mesh. Who stands to grow in this paradigm? Here are 5 frontiers we invest in.

1. Scaling solutions: As demand for blockspace grows, blockchains add parallel processing. These are rollups, shards, or chains with some form of shared/ borrowed security and dedicated capacity. Pushing the frontier are solutions for scaling in a fractal fashion, customised, on-demand solutions, and innovative use of zero-knowledge proofs. As adoption grows, applications gain bargaining power, and even build app-dedicated chains or layers.

2. Modular layers: Specialised layers complement scaling and enable new use cases. To complement scaling, data availability can be unbundled from execution and settlement. Storage-focused solutions like IPFS, Filecoin, and Arweave enable new data assets and primitives, crucially in NFTs. Oracles and off-chain computing solutions connect smart contracts with web2. As use cases become increasingly social, privacy and identity layers may also gain traction as complementary concepts.

3. Interoperability: The blooming of blockchains and modular layers necessitate communication. Beyond basic asset bridging, players are racing to provide generalised cross-chain communication. Point-to-point solutions go head-to-head with hub-and-spoke ones. Innovators are aiming to solve security trade-offs, cross-VM compatibility, and standards fragmentation, especially between and beyond clusters like Ethereum/ EVM, Polkadot/ Substrate, and Cosmos/ Tendermint.

4. Cross-chain products: Applications no longer belong to just one chain or ecosystem. dApps have already gone multi-chain to tap into more communities and liquidity. The new frontier is a new breed of cross-chain dApps, that aggregate assets and communities cross-chain, or unbundle across chains to leverage unique strengths like liquidity, scalability, and privacy. Early players exist for cross-chain DeFi as aggregators and new primitives, but NFT and DAO products are still sparse.

5. Multi-chain middleware: Middleware abstracts away the complexity of multi-chain for developers and users. Scaling solutions, modular layers, and cross-chain products often already offer APIs and SDKs for easy integration. White glove middleware providers go beyond to cover wallet management, data analytics, and security needs. Innovators are targeting developer segments newer to Web3 like gaming, with new opportunities on the horizon for emerging segments like music, fashion, and social.