Every transformative technology in history began as a powerful tool for a few, but only achieved mass adoption once onboarding friction was removed for everyone. PCs became universal with operating systems, the internet became mainstream with browsers, and smartphones became dominant with app stores. In each case, the breakthrough moment was not another incremental feature, but a platform that removed the highest barrier to usage: getting started.
Crypto today is still in its pre-onboarding layer phase. We have many fragmented chains with valuable assets and users, but each functions as an isolated distribution channel. For developers, building on a single chain means inheriting technical constraints and limiting user distribution. For users, onboarding to new chains or appchains remains clunky, preventing adoption and usage. The excess of chains, bridges, and wallets has made building crypto apps unnecessarily complex. Builders spend more time plumbing these tools together than serving users, while users face endless hurdles just to get started on an app. If this continues, new users will give up even before they begin, leading to the slow death of onchain apps.
Twine exists to solve this: aggregating user distribution across all chains and offchain liquidity venues and making it accessible for apps with minimal integration.
Building on an existing chain isn’t valuable due to execution, it’s due to distribution. A native user already has the wallet installed, assets loaded, and knows the UX quirks. That means zero additional onboarding friction to try other apps on the same chain, which makes it easy for new apps on the same chain to capture users immediately.
Appchains solve the technical limitations of these apps. Hyperliquid is a great example of a superior product enabled by appchain’s technical freedom. Similarly, the rise of app specific chain stacks like Sovereign SDK, vApps, and zkApps all suggests apps are increasingly moving towards owning their stack.
However, appchains suffer from cold start problem. The onboarding UX is clunkier for appchains as they need users to potentially download a new wallet, create an account, find a bridge, bridge the funds, and finally perform the transaction.
An appchain loses most of its potential users midway, killing a potential category defining application much before it reaches critical mass. Hence, if we unlock an equivalent UX for these appchains, they can tap into the day-one distribution while retaining revenue and customizability. Customizability of an appchain, distribution of an existing chain.
Twine unifies the distribution from existing chains and onboarding venues like CEXs, On ramps, etc. into a single distribution layer that appchains can tap into. Our goal is to reduce the number of clicks and third party platforms it takes for first time users to use your appchain. This way, appchains can seamlessly tap into not only one distribution source, but all major distribution sources at once with ease. Appchains get all the benefits (and much more) of building on existing chains, while retaining product superiority.