Challenges Faced By Developers Using L2 As Application Chains

According to Odaily, Sonic Labs Chief Technology Officer Andre Cronje recently highlighted several challenges developers face when using Layer 2 (L2) as application chains. Cronje pointed out that deploying on L2 lacks essential infrastructure support, such as stablecoins, oracles, and institutional custody. Additionally, there is no foundation or lab to provide assistance, and the centralized architecture is vulnerable to attacks. Cronje also noted that L2 disperses liquidity and forces cross-chain bridges, which complicates the development process. The absence of a robust user and developer community means that developers spend more time addressing these issues rather than focusing on applications and users. This situation eliminates network effects and still requires lengthy transaction confirmation times, making some vendors reluctant to collaborate. Furthermore, Cronje emphasized that developing on L2 often means working in isolation without collaborative support. He also mentioned that application chains significantly underestimate the costs associated with infrastructure and compliance, including browsers, custody, exchanges, oracles, bridges, toolkits, IDEs, on/off ramps, native issuance and integration, regulation, and compliance. In 2024 alone, these costs have amounted to $14 million, with a substantial portion being recurring expenses.