The Fundamental Shift in Blockchain Architecture The blockchain industry is undergoing a profound architectural transition. For years, systems like Ethereum packaged execution, consensus, and data availability into a single monolithic layer. This approach simplified design but created hard tradeoffs: throughput suffered because every validator had to execute every transaction and store every byte of data. The scalability ceiling became apparent as transaction costs climbed and block times remained bounded by consensus limitations. The modular approach inverts this assumption. Instead of forcing all operations into one canonical layer, modular chains separate concerns into distinct roles. One layer handles execution (computing state transitions), another reaches consensus on which transactions are valid, and a third provides persistent data availability guarantees. Each layer optimizes for its specific function rather than compromising to fit a unified design.…