Verticalization of the Web3 Social Stack

Verticalization is expected to increase across the SocialFi stack, with apps seeking to control user discovery, execution and liquidity, and the author expects the most successful apps to be opinionated, vertically integrated designs. The article says owning discovery or liquidity is most defensible, while issuance and execution are commoditized. It cites Friendtech, which combines discovery, exclusive execution and a bonding curve, and Pump and Ape Store, which let users deploy memecoins on bonding curves. It describes the exchange-first approach as easier to jumpstart but more competitive, and the discovery-first approach as historically more defensible.