The cost of launching a chain should decrease 90% in the next 5 years I've never built an L2 so I don't actually know the real costs but I'd guess it breaks down something like this: - $250k - $1.5m for an explorer - $1-2m for native issuance - $500k - $2m per tier one exchange - $350k - $1.5m for security audits - $250-500k per custodian - $150-300k for an oracle - $150-300k per bridge - $100-250k per on/off ramp - $25-50k per wallet - $50k for documentation and developer resources [costs are in dollars but most deals structured as % of token supply] Total: $5-10m @LucaNetz said it costs $10-15m to run an L2 @AndreCronjeTech said he spent $5m+ to launch Sonic I'd guess over the next 5 years both costs and ease of deployment will fall at least 90% driven by: 1) Interop solutions like OP Stack, Arbitrum Orbit, ZK's Elastic Chains, Polychain AggLayer, Avalanche L1s, Cosmos etc 2) RaaS platforms like Gelato, Conduit, and Caldera This will 1000x the number of chains being built. We saw the same thing happen with websites and then again with software. Costs and ease of deployment fell 90% driving 1000x more shots on goal and thus a LOT more innovation. The future has thousands of chains, the future is bright.