Why Alchemy's Move into AA is an Existential Threat to Generalist RPCs

Generalist RPCs compete on reliability and latency, metrics that are rapidly approaching parity. This creates a race to the bottom on price with margins collapsing to near-zero. The business becomes a low-margin utility, vulnerable to any player that bundles higher-value services.

• Key Consequence: Revenue per request is plummeting.
• Key Consequence: No product differentiation beyond basic uptime SLAs.

By owning the user session layer via AA, Alchemy moves up the stack from infrastructure to application logic. This captures value at the point of user intent, not just data fetching. It bundles gas sponsorship, batched transactions, and social recovery directly into the RPC call, creating a sticky, high-margin service bundle.

• Key Benefit: Locks in developers via integrated UX features.
• Key Benefit: Monetizes user onboarding and transaction flow, not just read queries.

Alchemy's move forces a reckoning. Protocols like Uniswap (via UniswapX) and Circle (CCTP) are already building intent-based vertical stacks. RPCs that remain generalist become mere bandwidth providers for these integrated giants. The future belongs to specialized RPCs for DeFi (e.g., Blocknative for MEV), Gaming, or Social, or to infra players who own a critical vertical like AA.

• Key Consequence: Generalists become low-tier commodity suppliers.
• Key Consequence: Value accrues to vertical stacks, not horizontal infrastructure.

AA shifts the value layer from raw data delivery to user intent execution. The base JSON-RPC becomes a low-margin utility, while the high-value logic moves to the bundler and paymaster layer where Alchemy is building a moat.

• Core Threat: RPCs like Infura, QuickNode, and public nodes become interchangeable commodities.
• Evidence: Alchemy's Bundler handles ~80% of ERC-4337 transactions, demonstrating early control of the new value layer.

By owning the full AA stack (Bundler, Paymaster, RPC), Alchemy creates a closed ecosystem. Developers are incentivized to use the integrated suite, locking out competing RPC providers and creating a single point of failure.

• Risk: Replicates the AWS model in web3, centralizing critical infrastructure.
• Consequence: Fragments liquidity and user experience across incompatible AA implementations from Stackup, Biconomy, and Candide.

Specialized, modular RPC providers can out-innovate Alchemy's monolithic stack by focusing on performance niches or integrating with best-in-class AA components.

• Opportunity: Providers like BlastAPI or Chainstack can offer sub-100ms latency for gaming or hyper-optimize for specific L2s like Arbitrum or zkSync.
• Strategy: Partner with intent-centric protocols like UniswapX or Across to become the default RPC for specific, high-value transaction flows.

Major L1/L2 protocols have a direct incentive to reduce reliance on third-party RPCs. Sovereign rollups and appchains will increasingly run their own optimized infrastructure, bypassing generalists entirely.

• Trend: Solana Foundation RPC, Polygon CDK chains, and Optimism's Bedrock all promote self-hosted node operations.
• Impact: Erodes the total addressable market for external RPC services, capping Alchemy's growth.

Alchemy's bundler dominance creates systemic risk. Censorship, high fees, or downtime in this centralized component could halt the entire ERC-4337 ecosystem, triggering a backlash and regulatory scrutiny.

• Single Point of Failure: A bug or exploit in Alchemy's bundler could freeze $1B+ in smart account assets.
• Response: Drives demand for decentralized bundler networks like EigenLayer AVS or Pimlico's permissionless bundler.

AA's gas sponsorship and paymaster models decouple the fee payer from the end-user, destroying the predictable per-request RPC pricing that underpins Alchemy's current SaaS revenue.

• Disruption: Revenue shifts to unpredictable gas arbitrage and paymaster markups, a complex and volatile business.
• Winner: Protocols that master intent routing and MEV capture (e.g., CowSwap, 1inch Fusion) may capture more value than the infrastructure layer itself.

Generalist RPCs compete on latency and uptime—metrics that have become table stakes. Alchemy's AA products like Account Kit and Bundler create a protocol-level moat.\n- Value Capture: Revenue shifts from per-request fees to a % of user transaction flow.\n- Lock-in: Once a dApp integrates AA tooling, switching RPCs requires a full UX overhaul.\n- Margin Erosion: Competing on raw RPC speed becomes a race to the bottom against providers like QuickNode and public endpoints.

Alchemy's managed Bundler service is the critical infrastructure for ERC-4337 and Paymaster flows. Controlling this node is akin to controlling the mempool.\n- Order Flow: The bundler decides transaction ordering and inclusion, a powerful position for MEV and fee optimization.\n- Data Advantage: Real-time insight into intent and user behavior far exceeds simple eth_call data.\n- Network Effect: More dApps using Alchemy's bundler improves its efficiency and reliability, creating a virtuous cycle competitors like Infura must now chase.

Alchemy's Account Kit (SDK) and Subscriptions feature turn the RPC into a direct user acquisition channel. This mirrors AWS's move from IaaS to managed services (e.g., Lambda).\n- Developer Adoption: Simplifying AA integration wins the builder mindshare, as seen with Safe{Wallet} and ZeroDev integrations.\n- Sticky Ecosystem: Features like gas sponsorship and session keys bind the end-user's experience to Alchemy's stack.\n- Existential Risk: Generalist RPCs become dumb pipes, while Alchemy captures the value of the application layer and user relationship.

AA generates a new class of onchain data: user intent, sponsorship patterns, and smart account interactions. Alchemy's Goldman Sachs-like position in this data flow is unattainable for pure RPCs.\n- Predictive Analytics: Can forecast dApp growth and user churn with precision, offering consulting services.\n- VC Signal: Becomes a top-tier deal flow source for investors, identifying breakout AA-native apps early.\n- Competitive Blindspot: Rivals like Chainstack or GetBlock see transactions, but Alchemy sees the business logic and monetization model before anyone else.

Alchemy is not building a feature; it's assembling a vertically integrated stack from user onboarding (Kit) to transaction execution (Bundler) to payment abstraction (Paymaster). This mirrors Apple's control of hardware, OS, and App Store.\n- Full-Stack Control: Optimizes the entire flow, making disjointed solutions from Biconomy or Stackup seem fragmented.\n- Pricing Power: Can bundle RPC, bundler, and paymaster services into one premium package, obscuring true cost.\n- Protocol Influence: As a dominant infrastructure provider for AA, it will heavily influence future EIPs and standards, shaping the market to its advantage.

For investors, this creates a bifurcated market. Betting on a generalist RPC provider is now a bet on a commodity supplier. The real value accrues to application-specific infra or aggregators like Polygon AggLayer or Avail.\n- Differential Bet: Alchemy becomes a must-hold, while undifferentiated RPCs face multiple compression.\n- New Thesis Required: Investment focus shifts to infra that enables sovereign chains, modular execution, or intent-solving (e.g., Anoma, Succinct).\n- Consolidation Signal: This move will trigger M&A as RPCs scramble to buy AA startups like Candide or Etherspot to stay relevant.