Who Can Deploy a Blockchain With Scale? Modular Blockchain Development Company Playbook

Short description: The 2026 modular stack lets serious teams launch production chains in weeks, not years—if you choose the right execution stack, DA layer, and sequencing model. This playbook shows who should deploy their own chain and how to do it with predictable cost, latency, and risk.

TL;DR for decision‑makers

• The window opened by Ethereum’s blob market and rollup tooling means a well‑scoped appchain can ship in 90 days with enterprise SLOs—if you pick an opinionated stack and treat DA, sequencing, and operations like first‑class products. (conduit.xyz)
• At scale, the cost driver is data availability, not compute. Run TCO on blobs vs alt‑DA (Celestia, EigenDA, Avail) and ensure fallback routes. Concrete pricing and capacity vary widely across providers and over time. (blog.celestia.org)

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Why “modular” is ready now (what changed in 2024–2026)

• Ethereum’s Dencun (Mar 13, 2024) introduced EIP‑4844 blobs, cutting L2 data posting costs by an order of magnitude and enabling sub‑cent fees on major rollups. (datawallet.com)
• Pectra (May 7, 2025) raised blob capacity (target/max from 3/6 to 6/9 per block), further easing DA pressure and stabilizing fees for high‑volume chains. (eips.ethereum.org)
• Superchain‑style ecosystems, shared sequencing, and alt‑DA matured: OP Stack’s Superchain coordination, Arbitrum Orbit’s L3s with Stylus, ZK Stack hyperchains, Polygon’s AggLayer, and DA networks (Celestia, EigenDA, Avail) are production‑grade or close. (messari.io)

What this means: You can pick a stack that optimizes for your KPIs—latency, fee ceiling, liquidity access, and governance—without reinventing core infra.

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Who should deploy a chain (and who shouldn’t)

Deploy if one or more are true:

• You must cap fees and latency for a known workload (exchanges, games, high‑QPS social). Examples:
  • Coinbase’s Base proved OP Stack’s viability (fees collapsed post‑Dencun). (coingecko.com)
  • Kraken’s “Ink” (OP Stack) joined the Superchain, validating multi‑brand L2 strategy. (coindesk.com)
  • Gaming L3s like Xai on Arbitrum Orbit tailor block times and economics for gameplay. (theblock.co)
• You control distribution and want native incentives (gas token, revenue share) or custom policies (MEV, permissions). OP Superchain formalizes a revenue share; Orbit supports custom gas tokens; ZK Stack supports native AA and interop. (messari.io)
• You need sovereignty with strong interop (e.g., CDK + AggLayer, ZK Stack Elastic Network). (polygon.technology)

Do not deploy if:

• You lack a workload and growth channel; shared L2s still outcompete “empty” appchains on liquidity and trust.
• Your compliance/security constraints exceed current shared security models; consider permissioned ZK rollups like ZKsync Prividium. (docs.zksync.io)

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Choose your execution stack: 2026 reality check

Below are the four stacks we ship most often, with where they shine.

1) OP Stack (Superchain)

Best when you want Ethereum alignment, composable ecosystem effects, and proven operations.

• Governance and economics: OP Chains contribute the greater of 2.5% of sequencer revenue or 15% of sequencer profit (OP Mainnet contributes 100%). Budget it. (messari.io)
• Interop/decentralization roadmap: OP partners with Flashbots to push 200 ms confirmations across Superchain; “shared sequencing” and cross‑rollup UX are on the path. (finance.yahoo.com)
• Adoption: Major brands (Base, Kraken/Ink, Sony, World Chain) are aligned to the Superchain. (cointelegraph.com)
• Ops notes: Typical OP nodes run on modest hardware; archive is heavy. Plan for op‑geth/op‑node separation and snapshot strategy. (docs.rollux.com)

When to pick: You want the broadest EVM talent pool and Superchain distribution, and your product fits OP Bedrock latencies.

2) Arbitrum Orbit (+ Stylus)

Best for high‑performance customization and L3 architectures.

• Stylus lets you write contracts in Rust/C/C++ with meaningful gas savings in many workloads; independent benchmarks show anywhere from ~26% savings to ~50% in specific cases. (blog.redstone.finance)
• DA flexibility: Rollup, AnyTrust (DAC), or alt‑DA (e.g., Celestia) with native failover preferences. (docs.arbitrum.io)
• Ecosystem: Dozens of Orbit chains across gaming, DeFi, social; Xai is a public L3 showcase. (chronicle.castlecapital.vc)
• Ops notes: Nitro full nodes can run on 4c/16GB for non‑archive; archive grows rapidly—control TCO with pruning and external indexing. ArbOS 51 “Dia” activation requires mandatory versions. (docs.arbitrum.io)

When to pick: You need custom performance, L3 topology, and want to mix DA options with an EVM‑plus (WASM) dev story.

3) ZK Stack (ZKsync chains/hyperchains)

Best for ZK‑first roadmaps (AA, fast finality, private/permissioned variants) with native interop.

• Performance claims: ZK Stack promotes 15k+ TPS and 1‑second ZK finality via Airbender; ChonkyBFT underpins consensus; chains interoperate through a shared L1 bridge. Validate for your workload. (zksync.io)
• Enterprise/private: Prividium is a permissioned ZK rollup profile anchored to Ethereum. (docs.zksync.io)
• Proving ops: For on‑prem provers, plan for GPUs (≥6 GB VRAM) or large CPU boxes; otherwise use managed proving. (docs.zksync.io)

When to pick: You want ZK UX (native AA, fast settlement) and trust the ZKsync Elastic Network’s interop model.

4) Polygon CDK (+ AggLayer)

Best for multi‑stack interop with ZK security and unified liquidity across chains.

• CDK went multistack in 2025: launch OP‑Stack‑based chains that connect natively to AggLayer; no connection “tax.” (polygon.technology)
• Security model: “Pessimistic proof” prevents a compromised chain from draining others via the shared bridge. (polygon.technology)
• Docs show AggLayer’s proof flow (certificates → SP1 prover → L1 settlement) and the goal of “feels like one chain.” (docs.polygon.technology)

When to pick: You want unified UX/liquidity via AggLayer while keeping stack choice flexible.

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Data Availability (DA) choices: where your costs actually live

Option A: Ethereum blobs (EIP‑4844)

• After Dencun and Pectra, target blob capacity doubled; when usage sits at/under target, blob base fees stay low and predictable. Capacity planning should model 6 target / 9 max blobs per block. (galaxy.com)

Good for: simplicity and strongest L1 alignment. Risk: blob market spikes; model for congestion windows.

Option B: Celestia DA

• Architecture: blob transactions, share‑based data square; mainnet currently 8 MiB tx limit and 8 MiB max square size (governance‑raised over time). (docs.celestia.org)
• Throughput R&D: “Mammoth Mini” testnet hit ~27 MB/s with 3s blocks—orders of magnitude over mainnet launch capacity. (blog.celestia.org)
• Ethereum integration: Blobstream (plus ZK light‑client variant) streams Celestia DA to Ethereum; Arbitrum Nitro alt‑DA integration ships via sidecar with failover. (blog.celestia.org)
• Pricing signals: Community research references ~$0.03/MB list price with volume tiers under discussion; treat as indicative, not a binding quote. (forum.celestia.org)

Good for: predictable, scalable DA costs and modular design.

Option C: EigenDA (via EigenLayer restaking)

• Throughput: v2 milestones claim up to 100 MB/s on mainnet; real‑world rollup usage is far lower—consult live telemetry (e.g., L2BEAT) during planning. (outposts.io)
• Adoption: Mantle shifted to EigenDA; operators count in the hundreds. Pricing introduced free and reserved tiers; exact $/MB depends on bandwidth SLA. (outposts.io)

Good for: high throughput targets with Ethereum‑aligned restaking security.

Option D: Avail DA

• Mainnet: active validator set surpassed 100 in 2025; DA roadmap includes 250 ms pre‑confirmations and encrypted DA (“Enigma”) for privacy‑sensitive rollups; Nexus mainnet launched Nov 2025 for multichain coordination. (forum.availproject.org)
• Adoption example: Lens Chain uses Avail DA to scale SocialFi. (blog.availproject.org)

Good for: UX where near‑instant pre‑conf and privacy DA help, plus cross‑ecosystem intent routing via Nexus.

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Sequencing: centralized, decentralized, or shared?

• Centralized sequencers are simplest but create censorship/availability risks and complicate cross‑chain atomicity.
• Decentralized/shared options:
  • Espresso Systems: testnets integrated with OP Stack, Polygon zkEVM, and Arbitrum; aims for fast confirmations and marketplace‑style shared sequencing. Production‑grade shared sequencing remains evolving—verify current feature set. (blockworks.co)
  • Astria: shared sequencer network with Celestia DA; devnets and mainnet path; publishes audits and a RaaS to one‑click deploy rollups on the shared sequencer. (astria.org)
  • OP Superchain x Flashbots: initiative to roll out 200 ms confirmations and verifiable sequencing across OP chains. (finance.yahoo.com)

Practical guidance: start centralized with an upgrade path—design interfaces to swap in shared decentralization later without changing app‑level logic.

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RaaS or self‑hosted? Cost and control trade‑offs

• Conduit pricing (Jan 2026): testnet $250/mo; growth $5k/mo + 5% sequencer profit + on‑chain deploy; enterprise custom. Include sequencer profit share in your P&L. (conduit.xyz)
• AltLayer “Restaked Rollups”: AVS trio—VITAL (verification), MACH (fast finality), SQUAD (decentralized sequencing)—leverages EigenLayer for economic security; no‑code dashboard supports OP/Orbit/CDK/ZK Stack with alt‑DA options. (docs.altlayer.io)
• Zeeve: low/no‑code deployments for OP/Orbit/ZK Stack/CDK with enterprise SLAs and white‑label explorers. (zeeve.io)

Use RaaS to compress time‑to‑market; graduate to self‑hosting for sovereignty, custom SLAs, and tighter cost control.

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TCO modeling: a concrete DA example

Assume your chain posts 0.10 MB/s of batch data on average.

• If posted to Celestia at an indicative $0.03/MB, that’s 0.10 × 86,400 sec/day × $0.03 ≈ $259/day (~$7,800/mo). Add sequencing, proving (if ZK), and infra. Prices and throughput tiers vary—request quotes. (forum.celestia.org)
• If posted to Ethereum blobs, fees float with blob base fee and market demand; capacity increased post‑Pectra (6 target/9 max blobs) reduces scarcity but doesn’t eliminate spikes. Model best/typical/worst. (eips.ethereum.org)
• EigenDA: consider reserved bandwidth tiers (e.g., 256–2048 KiB/s) and SLAs; live usage data shows material headroom but plan for governance and slashing model maturity. (f6s.com)

Rule of thumb: DA dominates at scale. Start with blobs for simplicity; switch to alt‑DA or add fallback when your effective $/txn exceeds target.

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Architecture patterns we deploy in 2026

• High‑frequency trading L3
  • Stack: Arbitrum Orbit + Stylus for low‑latency math; alt‑DA with Celestia primary and AnyTrust fallback; centralized sequencer with Espresso fast‑conf trial. Outcome: lower compute gas, bounded DA costs, and sub‑second UX during non‑congested periods. (blog.redstone.finance)
• Social graph chain
  • Stack: ZK Stack chain for native AA and fast finality; DA on Avail for 250 ms pre‑conf and future encrypted DA; AggLayer/Hyperlane bridges for broader reach. Outcome: gasless UX + fast posts; privacy path for DMs later. (zksync.io)
• Enterprise tokenization L2
  • Stack: OP Stack via RaaS (Conduit Growth), blobs‑first DA; plan upgrade to shared sequencing via OP x Flashbots; enforce OP revenue share in budget. Outcome: predictable ops, Superchain distribution, clean compliance story. (conduit.xyz)

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Capacity planning and SLOs: what to monitor from day one

• DA headroom:
  • Ethereum blob utilization vs target; alerts when blob base fee surges. Track after Pectra changes. (galaxy.com)
  • Alt‑DA chain health: Celestia square size/tx size, light‑client liveness; EigenDA operator set and throughput; Avail validator set and pre‑conf latencies. (docs.celestia.org)
• Sequencer health: ordering delay, missed slots, pre‑confirmation accuracy (if using Espresso/Astria/Flashbots). (github.com)
• Bridge risk: prefer native/shared bridges (AggLayer pessimistic proofs; ZKsync shared bridge) over ad‑hoc multisigs for core flows. (polygon.technology)

SLO starter set: P50/P95 end‑to‑end confirmation, 99.9% DA inclusion within SLA window, max reorg depth, and cross‑chain settlement time.

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Operational checklists (condensed)

• Data Availability
  • Pick primary and fallback DA (e.g., blobs → Celestia → AnyTrust). Automate failover. (docs.arbitrum.io)
• Sequencing
  • Start centralized; abstract interfaces to enable shared/decentralized later (Espresso, Astria, OP x Flashbots). (espressosys.com)
• Proving
  • If ZK: decide on CPU vs GPU vs managed; align hardware to prover profile (e.g., Boojum). (docs.zksync.io)
• Governance and economics
  • Model OP revenue share; evaluate AggLayer costs (none to connect, per Polygon); define MEV policy. (messari.io)
• Infra
  • Right‑size hardware; archive nodes grow quickly (e.g., Arbitrum). Plan snapshots, pruning, and observability. (docs.arbitrum.io)

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Emerging best practices we recommend

• Treat DA like a commodity with SLAs. Negotiate volume tiers; test throughput on weekends and bursts; periodically re‑price vs blobs. (forum.celestia.org)
• Optimize execution with WASM where it makes sense (Stylus) but benchmark your own contracts; gains are workload‑dependent. (docs.welldonestudio.io)
• Design for interop: AggLayer (CDK) and ZK Stack’s shared bridge reduce cross‑chain UX friction; OP Superchain is building in shared sequencing and cross‑rollup UX. Don’t bolt on bridges later. (docs.agglayer.dev)
• Keep a de‑risked 90‑day launch plan:
  • Days 0–15: choose stack, DA, sequencer mode; sign RaaS or infra contracts.
  • Days 16–45: spin up devnet, load test, fix gas and latency budgets, define bridge scope.
  • Days 46–75: security reviews (contracts, bridge, sequencer), DR playbook, SLOs.
  • Days 76–90: testnet → mainnet guarded launch, with traffic ramp schedules.

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Common pitfalls (and how to avoid them)

• Blob myopia: assuming blob fees will remain negligible. Build blob‑fee alerting and budget a DA fallback. (conduit.xyz)
• One‑way bridges: shipping with a bespoke multisig bridge when a shared bridge exists in the stack. Prefer AggLayer pessimistic proof or ZKsync shared bridge. (polygon.technology)
• Under‑resourced archive/state: archive growth on Arbitrum/Base is non‑trivial—use pruned nodes + external indexers unless you truly need full history. (docs.arbitrum.io)

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Quick reference: real‑world signals to watch in 2026

• Superchain share of L2 tx volume and 200 ms confirmation rollout status. (cointelegraph.com)
• Orbit+Stylus adoption in production gaming/DeFi L3s and alt‑DA deployments (Celestia sidecar). (docs.celestia.org)
• ZK Stack upgrades (Airbender/ZK OS) and interop across ZK chains. (zksync.io)
• CDK multistack traction and AggLayer bridge usage. (polygon.technology)
• EigenDA/Avail throughput, validator/operator sets, and pricing changes. (l2beat.com)

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The 7Block Labs take

• If you’re a consumer app with heavy writes, start OP Stack or Orbit with blobs, model alt‑DA by month 3, and design for shared sequencing.
• If you’re finance‑grade and need deterministic finality and AA: ZK Stack or CDK+AggLayer are strong baselines—prove your DA costs early.
• Wherever you start, insist on fallback DA, sequencer swap‑ability, and a measured interop path.

Want a second opinion on stack/DA/seq trade‑offs or a 90‑day build plan? Our team can run a one‑week TCO and risk workshop aligned to your KPIs.

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Sources

• Dencun/EIP‑4844 and post‑launch fee impact. (datawallet.com)
• Pectra blob capacity increase (EIP‑7691) and market impact. (eips.ethereum.org)
• OP Superchain governance and revenue share; ecosystem momentum. (messari.io)
• Arbitrum Stylus performance; alt‑DA with Celestia; DA modes. (docs.welldonestudio.io)
• ZK Stack architecture, interop, and proving requirements. (docs.zksync.io)
• CDK/AggLayer multistack, pessimistic proof, architecture docs. (polygon.technology)
• Celestia specs, throughput R&D, Blobstream, indicative pricing. (docs.celestia.org)
• EigenDA milestones, pricing tiers, live telemetry. (outposts.io)
• Avail DA mainnet, Enigma (encrypted DA), Nexus mainnet, Lens Chain. (forum.availproject.org)
• Espresso/Astria shared sequencing status. (blockworks.co)
• Conduit and AltLayer RaaS offerings. (conduit.xyz)

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