Will apps end up being valued more than the chains they're built on? For years, the Fat Protocol thesis argued that value accrues at the base layer instead of the application layer. But apps are starting to realize they don't need to pay nearly as much to the infrastructure layer anymore. @unichain is one example. Uniswap now takes control of transaction ordering with their L2. When you use Uniswap on Ethereum today, validators extract MEV that flows to Ethereum stakers. Unichain lets Uniswap redirect that value to LPs or UNI holders instead. @SorellaLabs does something similar with Angstrom, running auctions where arbitrageurs bid for the right to rebalance AMM pools. Proceeds go directly to liquidity providers instead of validators. @CoWSwap proves there’s demand for user aligned execution. Instead of letting searchers extract MEV, CoWSwap runs batch auctions that aggregate orderflow and return the surplus to traders through better prices. This matters because MEV is the only value capture mechanism that won't trend to zero. Data availability is already commoditized. Base fees are racing to the bottom. Compute costs are collapsing. MEV exists because of market inefficiencies and capital flows. It can be redirected but it can't be eliminated. So now that apps are taking MEV revenue for themselves, what's left for the protocol layers? There is settlement and security but if nobody is paying meaningful fees for those services, valuations become harder to justify. On Ethereum, L2s already pay minimal blob fees after EIP-4844. Most MEV now flows through MEV Boost relays instead of validators. Apps are either leaving to become appchains or implementing their own sequencing. The Fat Protocol thesis assumed apps would always be dependent on the base layer. But app specific sequencing breaks that dependency. By controlling their own orderflow and capturing their own MEV, apps may decide they don't need to pay rent to Ethereum. The market hasn't repriced this yet. Infrastructure tokens still trade at absurd premiums while apps generating actual revenue trade at single digit multiples. That gap could close either with apps going up or infrastructure coming down.(Delphi Digital)