Polymarket building its own blockchain is actually the smart move. Think about it—there's a fundamental difference in approach here.

Most new L1s and L2s follow a familiar playbook: launch the chain infrastructure first, then hunt for applications to deploy on it. It's backwards engineering in a way.

But Polymarket's doing something different. They've got a killer app already—millions understand and use their prediction market platform. Now layering a dedicated blockchain underneath? That's the natural evolution. You're not betting on abstract utility; you've proven product-market fit. The chain becomes the scaling solution for something people already want.

The first-mover advantage flips here. Instead of building infrastructure hoping devs show up, you're building infrastructure because users are already demanding it. The ecosystem grows around proven demand, not theoretical potential. That's how you avoid the graveyard of unused blockchains.