What is Chain Abstraction? It enhances the user experience more comprehensively compared to account abstraction.

Chain Abstraction is a design concept that is more in line with usage scenarios, integrating aspects such as liquidity, on-chain accounts, application interface processes, etc. The ultimate goal is to allow users to focus on truly valuable DApps without having to leave the interface for reasons such as gas fees, cross-chain transactions, etc., maximizing user experience and commercial value. This article is adapted from Near press release.

Current DApps Cannot Be Considered as Apps

Fragmented User Experience of DApps

Most of today's DApps are not actually Apps. Users need to leave the application to smoothly complete Web3 services, such as jumping to a wallet window or using cross-chain bridges for token replenishment. The current design is not a true application but can only be considered a frontend.

This can explain why only millions of people worldwide are using DApps. There is still much room for improvement if we hope to see Web3 being widely adopted.

Increasing Number of Blockchains Complicates User Experience

The modular and multi-chain ecosystem leads to fragmentation of liquidity, applications, and users, making user experience very complex, and mainstream users cannot grasp the entire ecosystem.

Fragmentation also disadvantages development teams, as on-chain projects need to conform to specific technical stack designs of various ecosystem networks, and all developed applications can only have a small market due to network fragmentation.

Future Vision: Chain Abstraction

Reducing Usage Barriers with Chain Abstraction

Chain abstraction was initially proposed by the Connext project, designed to enable DApps to execute logic on any chain without users needing to switch networks or sign transactions on different chains.

For the first time, users can interact with any DApp using any token from any supported chain. The ultimate goal of chain abstraction is to allow users to focus more on using DApps.

Through chain abstraction, the blockchain industry can be widely adopted. Blockchain itself should not become a user barrier, separating the concept of chains from the existing user map.

The core requirement of chain abstraction assumes: end-users do not care about the underlying blockchain. They just want the application to work.

Ideal Chain Abstraction Use Cases

All processes are carried out within a single interface, and users do not need to know the operational logic behind the applications, for example:

• Alice opens an online store on her phone, sees a discount at her favorite clothing store, orders a pair of spring shoes, earns a badge for meeting the purchase threshold, without knowing it's an NFT on Polygon that she successfully redeemed.
• Later, when Alice browses the store again, she notices a new badge displaying a promotion, offering tickets to an exclusive event. She connects to an external ticketing system through the application interface to purchase two tickets, not knowing it's an NFT on Arbitrum, and not caring where the tokens she purchased come from.
• Alice wants to send the tickets to her friend Bob. Bob sends his address to Alice, who then opens his app to view the tickets without needing to know the network or transaction fees involved in sending.

All interactions and transactions can occur within a single interface. No wallets, transaction fees, cross-chain bridges; these are all embedded in the DApp and are handled on behalf of users. Users can purchase tickets with any cryptocurrency without worrying about which network the tickets are on.

How to Achieve Chain Abstraction

The core goal of chain abstraction is to integrate the increasingly fragmented modular design of Web3, which is most noticeable at the user experience layer, but integration at the security layer, liquidity, and account levels is also possible, thus it can be discussed at three levels.

Liquidity Integration and Cross-Chain Mechanism Integration

Zero-knowledge proof technology ZKP brings a new means of ledger security maintenance to the industry. In the past, decentralized networks were required to reduce trust assumptions, and developers needed to build DApps on crowded 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 launched with just a single server.

Based on this background, cross-settlement can be redesigned. With more chains integrating zero-knowledge proofs, more secure communication and cross-chain settlements can be achieved on multiple other chains.

Zero-knowledge proofs allow assets to move securely between different chains, enabling liquidity to be aggregated across multiple networks, solving the issue of fragmented liquidity.

To achieve unified security, the underlying stack needs to do two things:

• Data Availability (DA): Even if servers are offline, each user can synchronize the latest transaction status.
• Decentralized Sorter: Ensuring network censorship resistance and asset security.

Does DA not store historical data? Data availability does not equal permanent availability.

Account Integration and Ledger Integration

After underlying liquidity integration, the next step is the unification of identity and security. Ideally, users should have a single address on all possible chains and freely transfer assets between networks.

From a user's perspective, it should be a single account to manage assets and interact with applications across chains.

To achieve account integration, it is necessary to integrate ledgers, virtual machines, and cross-chain mechanisms in various blockchains.

User Experience Integration and Application-Side Integration

At the top layer is the unified application layer, providing ways to interact with applications on various chains, ideally without users needing to switch or leave a single interface.

This requires unified development tools for Web3 application frontends. The NEAR project aims to achieve this through NearJS, combining data indexing and decentralized frontends.

Currently, wallet design thinking is a faster way to approach this. Ideally, wallets can provide a way to browse all Web3 without switching networks, handling gas fees, and cross-chains. Wallet developers need to invest resources in deep integration with many projects.

Chain Abstraction Allows Users to Focus on Applications

Existing blockchain industry users need to individually set up wallets, register on exchanges, buy tokens for various networks, manage addresses, and tokens between networks, significantly reducing user experience.

With the maturation of account abstraction technology, users are expected to reduce the probability of leaving the application, thereby increasing user activity and conversion rates, successfully focusing on valuable DApps rather than external systems or ecosystem transitions.