Implementing Chain Abstraction: Bridgeless Seamlessly Within All Blockchains
As blockchain technology continues to evolve, an increasing number of blockchain platforms have emerged, creating an ecosystem where multiple chains coexist. These platforms focus on different application scenarios, providing users with a wealth of choices. Unlike Bitcoin’s Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism, the Proof of Stake (PoS) model significantly reduces the overhead for launching and maintaining networks, thus encouraging a surge in innovative projects. However, this diversity also brings about liquidity and usage fragmentation, greatly affecting user experience. Moreover, these innovative projects often pursue their maximum benefits, adopting different economic incentive measures, leading to a fragmented situation. Developers, influenced by these economic incentives, are more inclined to create new chains to obtain higher value rather than develop on existing ones, exacerbating liquidity and user experience fragmentation.
In contrast to web2, where applications switch seamlessly, web3 operations often rely on insecure or centralized tools for cross-chain interactions. This dependency exists because web3 lacks a unified protocol to manage these interactions securely and efficiently. In web2, applications communicate over standardized protocols like HTTP, enabling seamless and secure data exchanges across platforms. Web3, however, is made up of multiple isolated blockchains, each with its own protocols and rules, necessitating the use of bridges or centralized exchanges to enable cross-chain interactions.
These cross-chain bridges involve locking assets on the original chain and generating proof, then minting equivalent tokens or creating new assets representing the original ones on the target chain. While this mechanism facilitates asset flow across blockchains, it also introduces complex operational processes and potential security risks, with significant losses reported annually due to cross-chain bridge attacks. The reliance on these centralized tools or insecure bridges increases the risk of attacks and security breaches. Furthermore, the complex nature of these operations discourages new users from adopting web3 technologies and even pushes existing users back to centralized off-chain applications due to their convenience and perceived security.
Seamless Blockchain Interactions Through Chain Abstraction
To address these issues, the concept of chain abstraction has been introduced. Chain abstraction aims to simplify interactions between users and different blockchains by providing unified interfaces and tools, enhancing interoperability and user experiences.
When Cycle Network was founded in October 2022, the concept of chain abstraction was not yet defined. Initially, our goal was to enhance user experience. Over time, we realized that the main reason decentralized exchanges (DEX) haven’t surpassed centralized exchanges (CEX) is due to the ease of use and trust established by CEX platforms over time. Despite being the safest algorithms, decentralized mechanisms have not seen widespread adoption due to the complex operations required in web3. Realizing this, we found ourselves working towards the principles of chain abstraction even before the term was officially coined.
As the concept of chain abstraction has emerged, more and more projects are recognizing its potential and exploring the opportunities it offers. Different projects have various innovations in their chain abstraction solutions. For instance, some projects offer a universal account system that allows users to access and operate multiple blockchains through a single account, while others utilize cross-chain bridge aggregators to aggregate multiple cross-chain bridge protocols. At Cycle Network, we adopt a decentralized, bridgeless hub solution that seamlessly interconnects all blockchains. With the proliferation of Layer 2 solutions and numerous chains, this innovation ensures that end-users and developers are no longer isolated or fragmented. It enables everyone to share liquidity, pay gas fees, and sign transactions without the need for traditional bridges.
We will explore the impact of Cycle Network’s integration on end users and developers — two of the most crucial participants in the Web3 ecosystem.
Our Decentralized Bridgeless Transaction Flow
Cycle Network’s core technology leverages a multi-layered architecture based on Verifiable State Aggregation (VSA), combining the Security Layer, Extend Layers, and Cycle Layer to facilitate seamless cross-chain transactions.
Our system uses zk-rollup technology to aggregate transactions into batches. These batches are then processed by zk-rollup nodes, which generate zk proofs to validate the transactions without exposing their details. A Verifiable Aggregate Sequencer sequences and packages these batches. Following this, the Omni State Channel Indexer (OSCI) performs decentralized indexing and ensures the availability and verifiability of each transaction’s state. Verified transactions are recorded on the Cycle Layer, enabling direct cross-chain data operations via a single SDK interface. Finally, updates to the Cycle Layer are broadcast back to the respective chains, reflecting asset transfers or smart contract executions and ensuring that all nodes in the network have consistent and up-to-date information. This approach not only boosts security and integrity but also lowers transaction fees and supports seamless interoperability across various blockchain architectures, including EVM and non-EVM chains, as well as Layer 2 solutions.
Practical Uses of Our Bridgeless Solution
The decentralized, bridgeless hub solution that seamlessly interconnects all blockchains, eliminating the need for intermediary steps and reducing potential security risks. This approach provides substantial benefits for both new and existing blockchain platforms, as well as end-users and developers.
Piggy Bank is a pioneering all-chain asset management platform that leverages Cycle Network to deliver a revolutionary asset management experience. Designed to be a flagship product, Piggy Bank simplifies blockchain usage and serves as an accessible crypto asset management tool for everyone. It offers a bridgeless experience and harnesses Cycle’s all-chain liquidity sharing solution to automate and optimize investment strategies across multiple chains.
For End Users
- All-Chain Bridgeless UX
Piggy Bank eliminates the complexities of different chains for both Web3 and Web2 users. Managing, trading, investing, and minting assets is entirely bridgeless. Users can handle their crypto assets on Piggy Bank as effortlessly as they manage traditional financial products, without needing to understand the nuances of various chains, gas tokens, or third-party bridges.
2. High-Yield Platform Aggregating All-Chain DeFi Protocols
Utilizing Cycle Network, Piggy Bank aggregates DeFi protocols from any network (L1, EVM, Non-EVM, BTC L2, etc.). AI-driven analysis evaluates security, yield, and stability, recommending personalized investment strategies. Users can select investment options with a single click, benefiting from superior returns due to aggregated and compounded yields across chains.
3. Wide Range of Asset Classes
Piggy Bank supports a diverse array of assets by integrating with Cycle’s all-chain DeFi Hub. Users can manage physical assets like real estate and artwork, access various financial derivatives (options, futures, leveraged tokens), and engage in asset borrowing, lending, and liquidity mining across all chains.
For Developers
- Shared Liquidity Pool
Piggy Bank’s integration with Cycle Liquidity Aggregator consolidates fragmented liquidity resources into a shared pool. This approach enhances overall liquidity and capital efficiency, maximizing returns and simplifying liquidity management.
2. Secure and Low-Cost
Cycle Network provides Piggy Bank with a unified interface and protocol, streamlining blockchain operations and integrations. The shared liquidity pool reduces the risk associated with single-chain funding and minimizes potential for fraud.
Example: Bridgeless Mint NFT
Piggy Bank’s highly anticipated Piggy Box event has seen over 246K accounts, with nearly 190K assets minted in a bridgeless manner. Users from any chain can mint assets with a single click without leaving their native chain. Transactions, gas fees, and signatures are handled seamlessly on the user’s preferred chain, while receiving assets on the project’s issuing chain.
BEVM Partnership: In collaboration with BEVM, the first fully decentralized EVM-compatible Bitcoin L2 that uses BTC as Gas, Cycle Network’s bridgeless solution facilitated the minting of NFTs directly from Piggy Bank. This partnership attracted 40,000 new users in just three days, who were able to mint BEVM Genesis Boxes seamlessly without dealing with cross-chain operations or gas fees. The ease of use and efficiency provided by Piggy Bank highlighted the practical advantages of our bridgeless technology in real-world applications.
IoTeX Collaboration: Similarly, our partnership with IoTeX, the leading modular infrastructure for DePIN projects, showcased the power of Cycle Network’s bridgeless solution in a recent NFT minting campaign on the testnet. This campaign supported users in minting IoTeX testnet assets directly from various blockchains. Users who completed this minting experience received exclusive Genesis Boxes, unlocking fantastic rewards from the Cycle Network ecosystem. Over two days, 5,000 NFTs were minted through Piggy Bank, allowing users from any chain to participate without the complexities of cross-chain interactions.
Building on the success of these collaborations, our decentralized bridgeless information transfer has successfully served multiple new altchains. Cycle Network helps applications break free from the limitations of specific chains, enabling seamless operation across multiple blockchains. This capability is crucial for developers seeking to expand their reach and user base.
At the moment, the bridgeless SDK is open to any EVM chains and DApps, allowing any developer to provide users with a bridgeless experience without any gas limitations.
Conclusion
Cycle Network’s focus on chain abstraction through a bridgeless cross-chain solution offers a streamlined, secure alternative to traditional cross-chain bridges, addressing interoperability challenges effectively. By leveraging zk-rollup technology and aggregate sequencer, Cycle Network brings a new cross-chain experience to developers and users, fulfilling a wide array of cross-chain needs. This chain abstraction-based approach effectively overcomes the complexity and fragmentation of multi-chain environments and provides strong support for widespread blockchain adoption and interoperability. As blockchain continues to advance and the multi-chain environment matures, we are committed to further developing chain abstraction and cross-chain technologies, aiming to overcome existing limitations and explore new application domains.
