Chain Abstraction is a design concept that is more in line with the usage scenario. By integrating liquidity, on-chain accounts, and application interface processes, the ultimate goal is to allow users to focus on DAPPs that have real value, without having to leave the interface due to gas fees, cross-chain issues, etc., maximizing user experience and commercial value. This article is adapted from a press release by Near.
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DAPPs today cannot be considered as APPs
Fragmented user experience of DAPPs
Increase in the number of blockchains complicates the experience
The future should look like: Chain Abstraction
Chain Abstraction reduces barriers to use
Ideal scenarios for Chain Abstraction
How to achieve Chain Abstraction
Liquidity integration (cross-chain mechanism integration)
Account integration (ledger integration)
User experience integration (application-side integration)
Chain Abstraction allows users to focus on applications
Most DAPPs today are not actually APPs. Users need to leave the application to successfully complete Web3 services, such as jumping to a wallet window or using a cross-chain bridge for token deposits. The current design is not a true application, but rather a front-end.
This explains why only a few million people in the world are using DAPPs. There is still a lot of room for improvement if we want to see Web3 adopted by the mainstream.
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The increase in blockchains and Rollups in recent years has led to a decrease in the experience of users and developers.
The modular and multi-chain ecosystem has led to fragmentation of liquidity, applications, and users, making the user experience very complex, and no mainstream user can grasp the entire ecosystem.
Fragmentation also puts development teams at a disadvantage, as on-chain projects need to conform to specific technical stacks of various ecosystem networks, and all developed applications can only have a small market due to network fragmentation.
Chain abstraction was originally proposed by the Connext project as a concept designed to allow DAPPs to execute the logic of any chain, eliminating the need for users to switch networks and sign transactions on different chains.
For the first time, users can interact with DAPPs from any supported chain using any token, and the ultimate goal of chain abstraction is to allow users to focus more on using DAPPs.
Chain abstraction is necessary to drive the adoption of the blockchain industry by the mainstream. It prevents the blockchain itself from becoming a barrier to user adoption, and removes the concept of chains from the existing user map.
The core requirement of chain abstraction assumes that end users do not care about the underlying blockchain. They just want the application to work.
All processes are carried out in a single interface, and users do not need to know the operational logic behind the application. For example:
Alice opens an online store on her mobile phone and sees that her favorite clothing store has a discount, so she orders a pair of spring shoes and earns a badge for reaching the purchase threshold. However, she doesn’t know that it is an NFT on Polygon that has been successfully redeemed.
Later, when Alice browses the store again, she notices that the new badge displays a discount for purchasing exclusive event tickets. She uses the application interface to connect to an external ticketing system and purchases two tickets, but she still doesn’t know that it is an NFT on Arbitrum, and she doesn’t need to care about which network the purchased tokens come from.
Alice wants to send the tickets to her friend Bob. Bob sends his address to Alice, and then opens his application to view the tickets, without needing to know the network or transaction fees involved in sending the tickets.
All interactions and transactions can be done in a single interface. There are no wallets, transaction fees, or cross-chain bridges; these are all embedded in the DAPP and represent the user. Users can use any cryptocurrency to purchase tickets without worrying about which network the tickets are on.
The core goal of chain abstraction is to integrate the fragmented modular design of Web3. Although this is most obvious at the user experience layer, integration at the security layer, liquidity layer, and account layer is also possible, so it can be discussed at three levels.
Zero-knowledge proof technology (ZKP) brings a new means of ledger security maintenance to the industry. In the past, it was necessary to have a decentralized network to reduce trust assumptions, and developers had to build DAPPs on congested decentralized networks or create their own decentralized networks. Now, even a single computer can ensure compliance with rules through simple proof mechanisms, and a chain can be started with just a single server.
Based on this background, cross-settlement can be redesigned. With more chains integrating zero-knowledge proofs, it is possible to achieve more secure communication and cross-chain settlement on multiple other chains.
Zero-knowledge proofs allow assets to move securely between different chains, enabling liquidity to be aggregated across multiple networks and solving the problem of fragmented liquidity.
To achieve unified security, the underlying stack needs to do two things:
Data availability (DA): Even if the server is offline, each user can have a way to synchronize the latest transaction status.
Decentralized sorter: Ensures network resistance to censorship and asset security.
(DA does not store historical data? Data availability does not mean permanent availability)
After integrating the underlying liquidity, the next step is the integration of identity and security. The ideal state is that users can have one address on all possible chains and freely transfer assets between networks.
From the perspective of user usage, it should be a single account that allows for unified management of assets and interaction with on-chain applications.
To achieve account integration, it is necessary to integrate ledgers, virtual machines, and cross-chain mechanisms from various blockchains (mentioned above).
At the top level is the unified application layer, which provides ways to interact with applications on various chains, ideally without users having to switch or leave a single interface.
This requires the development of unified development tools for Web3 application front-ends. The Near project achieves this goal through NearJS, combining data indexing and decentralized front-ends.
Currently, one way to think about this is through wallet design. Ideally, a wallet can provide a way to browse all of Web3 without switching networks, handling gas fees, or cross-chain issues. This requires wallet developers to invest resources in deep integration with many projects.
Existing users in the blockchain industry need to set up wallets individually, register exchanges, purchase tokens for network gas fees, manage addresses and tokens between networks, etc., greatly reducing the user experience.
It is expected that as account abstraction technology matures, users will have a reduced likelihood of leaving the application, thereby increasing user activity and conversion rates, successfully keeping their focus on valuable DAPPs rather than external systems or the transition within the ecosystem.
AA
Chain Abstraction
Connext
Near
Chain Abstraction