In a previous post on the relationship between interoperability protocols and chain abstraction, I briefly introduced a three-layer framework for chain abstraction. Today, I’ll delve deeper into this topic. Please note that any projects or tokens mentioned here are for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice.

For any sector or concept, having a clear and logical framework aids in understanding. For instance, modular blockchains divide traditional public chains into data availability (DA) layers, execution layers, consensus layers, and settlement layers, each serving a distinct purpose. Chain abstraction, as a user experience that frees individuals from manual interactions with multiple chains, should logically be structured according to the needs of different types of users: developers, regular users, and infrastructure providers.

TL;DR

The three-layer framework for chain abstraction comprises the Application Layer, Account Layer, and Blockchain Layer, catering respectively to the needs of developers, regular users, and infrastructure providers. This framework offers a new perspective for understanding multi-chain interoperability and chain abstraction.

1. Application Layer (Developers): Developers face challenges with multi-chain deployment and cross-chain compatibility, especially when moving projects from EVM to non-EVM chains. Chain abstraction simplifies cross-chain operations by reducing technical discrepancies, making development more efficient and allowing developers to focus on innovation rather than multi-chain complexity.
2. Account Layer (Users): Regular users struggle with complex multi-chain interactions and fragmented asset management. Chain abstraction unifies balances and automates gas fees, enabling easier navigation across chains with a single identity, making Web3 experiences more user-friendly and similar to traditional internet applications.
3. Blockchain Layer (Infrastructure Providers): Infrastructure providers encounter issues with cross-chain security and liquidity fragmentation. Chain abstraction standardizes cross-chain communication and technology compatibility, especially aiding ecosystems like Cosmos and Polkadot, reducing security risks and deployment costs.

In essence, the three-layer framework of chain abstraction aims to eliminate direct interactions between various blockchain components, fostering a more connected, interoperable blockchain ecosystem. This evolution marks a significant step in blockchain’s maturity, transitioning from isolated, multi-chain silos to a collaborative network.

1. Application Layer Chain Abstraction (Developers)

When discussing user groups, developers are often overlooked as a core segment of users. Yet, developers face unique challenges when building multi-chain projects, including:

• Repeated Deployment Across Chains: For EVM-compatible ecosystems, developers must deploy their decentralized applications (Dapps) on each compatible chain individually, consuming significant time and resources.
• Multiple Project Rebuilds for Cross-Chain Compatibility: Deploying an EVM-based project on a chain like Sui requires developers to rebuild their application using the Move language, which not only demands adjustments for syntax differences but also raises security concerns.
• Complex Cross-Chain Transaction Needs: Consider the challenge of enabling a user who wants to swap ETH on Ethereum for a meme token on Solana. Issues like finding a suitable liquidity pool and defining the transaction path make cross-chain transactions a technical hurdle.

For developers, the ability to build Dapps that can seamlessly interact across multiple blockchains is a top priority. Chain abstraction can optimize their experience by focusing on several key areas:

1. Unified Cross-Chain Transactions with a Single Signature A major need is enabling applications where a user’s single signature can authorize transactions across multiple blockchains. This allows users to interact across chains without managing separate wallets or keys for each one. With a unified identity, developers can create complex cross-chain Dapps, such as decentralized exchanges (DEXs) or multi-chain financial services, that promote value transfer and information sharing across blockchains. This approach reduces technical barriers for users, streamlines the signature process, and enhances engagement with multi-chain ecosystems.
2. Support for Asynchronous, Long-Running Cross-Chain Logic Allowing Dapps to run complex, long-running business logic across blockchains gives developers the ability to implement intricate operations that span multiple networks. For instance, a financial application might need to validate transactions, execute smart contract calls, or manage data requests on different blockchains concurrently. By supporting cross-chain business logic, Dapps can achieve advanced functions like automated trading or cross-chain asset management, providing developers with greater flexibility and space for innovation.
3. Abstracting Multi-Chain Complexity \ Multi-chain development is often complicated by chain-specific protocols, transaction confirmation times, and fee structures. Abstracting these underlying complexities allows developers to focus on application-specific features and user experience without delving into the details of each blockchain. This not only accelerates development but also lowers technical barriers, making blockchain application development more accessible to a wider range of developers.

Current projects in the application layer of chain abstraction include Agoric (@agoric), Skip (@SkipProtocol), and Socket (@socketprotocol), each contributing to the growing ecosystem of tools aimed at simplifying and enhancing multi-chain development for Dapps.

2. Account Layer Chain Abstraction (End Users)

As the primary source of market liquidity and the foundation for ecosystem growth, end users are crucial to the blockchain space. However, users often complain about poor user experience (UX) with various multi-chain projects. Here are some major challenges users face in a multi-chain environment:

• Manual Cross-Chain Bridging: When moving assets or data between blockchains, users often need to manually bridge these assets, involving complex steps like choosing bridge services, paying fees, and waiting for confirmations. This manual process not only burdens users but also increases the risk of errors and asset loss, requiring users to have an understanding of different chains—especially difficult for newcomers.
• Fragmented Asset Management Across Multiple Chains and Wallets: With assets scattered across various chains and wallets, users need to manage different addresses, private keys, and passwords, and understand each chain’s transaction and fee structure. This increases the risk of security issues like key leaks, losses, or forgotten access credentials, complicating asset management.
• Fragmented Cross-Chain Identity: Users often need to create separate accounts or identities on each blockchain, resulting in fragmented identity data. This fragmentation means that users must switch between accounts for different chains, making it difficult to consolidate reputation, assets, and transaction history across chains. As a result, users cannot easily use their reputation or assets from one chain on another, reducing convenience and user experience.

Chain Abstraction Solutions for End Users

Account layer chain abstraction aims to provide users with a seamless, unified experience across multiple blockchains, where assets and identities can be managed without dealing with each chain’s technicalities. Key approaches include:

1. Unified Balance Across Chains and Applications A “unified balance” allows users to view their total assets across chains from a single interface. By using cross-chain data aggregation services, users can see all of their assets—whether on Ethereum, BSC, Solana, or other chains—in one place. This simplifies asset management and provides a clear overview of total holdings, while making cross-chain transfers and transactions easier. With a unified balance, users perceive the ecosystem as a single integrated space, reducing the sense of interacting with individual blockchains.
2. Automated Multi-Chain Gas Fees and Account Interaction One of the primary complexities in multi-chain interactions is managing gas fees. Since each blockchain requires a specific token for transaction fees (e.g., ETH on Ethereum, BNB on BSC), users often need to manage token balances across chains. By automating gas fee payments, users can avoid manually managing token balances on each chain. They can interact with a single account without worrying about different fee tokens, chains, or technical details. This automation simplifies multi-chain interactions and greatly enhances UX.
3. Unified Identity for Cross-Chain Account Management Currently, users need separate accounts on each chain, leading to fragmented identity management. A unified account allows users to interact with multiple blockchains under a single identity, eliminating the need to create and manage different accounts on each chain. This unified identity approach simplifies asset and identity management, and developers can also benefit from simplified user management. With a single access point, Dapps can offer seamless multi-chain interactions, making the experience more intuitive and coherent.

In the account layer of chain abstraction, users can maintain a consistent identity and manage assets across different chains seamlessly, focusing on their transactional needs without concerning themselves with underlying technical details. Leading projects in this direction include Particle Network (@ParticleNtwrk), XION (@burnt_xion), and NEAR (@nearprotocol).

3. Blockchain Layer Chain Abstraction (Infrastructure Providers)

For infrastructure providers, choosing the right blockchain ecosystem is crucial. Providers must consider whether a blockchain requires their services and if the ecosystem aligns with their strategic objectives. This decision is complicated by the independence and isolation of various blockchains. A connected blockchain environment would reduce the need for providers to choose specific chains, enabling broader deployment options. Achieving this requires solutions in several key areas:

• High-Risk Bridging and Unified Liquidity: Users frequently transfer assets across blockchains through “bridging,” which introduces high security risks due to protocol and technical disparities between chains. Vulnerabilities in bridge contracts, potential attacks, and asset loss have been recurring issues, with significant losses occurring in past bridge attacks. Furthermore, liquidity fragmentation complicates cross-chain transactions, as each chain has isolated liquidity pools, making it difficult and costly for users to access liquidity across chains.
• Inconsistent Cross-Chain Communication Mechanisms: The lack of standardized communication protocols between blockchains creates significant obstacles for cross-chain interactions. Each blockchain operates on different consensus models (PoW, PoS, etc.) and architectures, with limited direct communication channels between them. This diversity complicates cross-chain application development as each chain has unique rules, consensus mechanisms, and security models.
• State Fragmentation: In a multi-chain environment, data and user states are scattered across chains, leading to fragmented user experience. This includes not only asset management but also user accounts, transaction histories, and smart contract states. For infrastructure providers, state fragmentation requires additional effort to ensure data consistency across chains, including synchronizing user states and transactions.

Blockchain Layer Chain Abstraction Solutions

The blockchain layer of chain abstraction aims to address these foundational issues, enabling interoperability between blockchains with minimal risk, delay, and cost. Key solutions include:

1. Enhanced Security Mechanisms Security is a major challenge in multi-chain environments, particularly for cross-chain transactions and bridging. Each blockchain has its own security protocols, but cross-chain interactions introduce vulnerabilities like asset loss and transaction tampering. Key security mechanisms include consensus mechanisms, smart contract audits, multi-signature protocols, and zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptographic proofs. These methods help secure cross-chain transactions and mitigate risks associated with bridging assets between chains.
2. Cross-Chain Messaging and Bridging Cross-chain messaging enables the transmission of information, instructions, or transactions between blockchains. For example, a user may want to trigger a smart contract on Ethereum and then execute a related transaction on BSC or Polkadot. Protocols like Cosmos’ IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication) and Polkadot’s XCMP (Cross-Chain Message Passing) are working toward standardized cross-chain communication, supporting secure data and asset transfer across blockchains. Bridges, on the other hand, lock assets on one chain and create equivalent tokens on another, facilitating the flow of assets across chains. Effective bridging technology can boost interoperability and allow free movement of assets between blockchains.
3. Direct Compatibility for Chains with a Unified Tech Stack Chains built on a unified tech stack have a natural level of compatibility, allowing for high interoperability. The tech stack—a combination of development tools, protocols, frameworks, and consensus mechanisms—provides a shared foundation that enables seamless interaction between compatible chains. For instance, Cosmos and Polkadot each have ecosystems built on common foundational protocols (Cosmos uses Tendermint, while Polkadot uses Substrate). This enables easy interoperability, shared security, liquidity, and data exchange between chains within the same ecosystem, helping infrastructure providers to reduce security risks and improve deployment efficiency.

The blockchain layer of chain abstraction functions like establishing a few major highways that connect entire regions, instead of having to build thousands of smaller, isolated roads. This significantly enhances efficiency by connecting chains within unified ecosystems. Key projects driving blockchain layer abstraction include Polygon’s AggLayer (@0xPolygon) and Avail (@AvailProject).

Statement:

1. This article is reproduced from [cryptoHowe.eth], the copyright belongs to the original author [@weihaoming], if you have any objections to the reprint, please contact Gate Learn team , and the team will handle it as soon as possible according to relevant procedures.
2. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article represent only the author’s personal views and do not constitute any investment advice.
3. Translations of the article into other languages are done by the Gate Learn team. Unless mentioned, copying, distributing, or plagiarizing the translated articles is prohibited.