Author: Haotian

Why is 'chain abstraction' becoming another mainstream hot narrative after 'modularity'? In addition to the seemingly 'empty' goal of Mass Adoption, I think the real core reason is as follows:

1. Chain abstraction is inevitable after modularization to a certain stage, because the architecture of blockchain technology roughly includes consensus layer, execution layer, DA layer, interactive operability, settlement layer, and so on. Traditionally, monolithic single-chain needs to coordinate and strengthen each layer comprehensively, while modularization breaks this situation.

The DA layer, the interactive operability layer, and even the execution layer can all be singled out for performance optimization and can function in a composable collaborative manner. Therefore, 'modularity' has become the mainstream paradigm for developers seeking to build differentiated chains. This low-cost and narrative-strong approach to entrepreneurship gradually becomes mainstream without having to worry too much about long-term issues such as ecological operation.

However, modularization is essentially aimed at infrastructure construction. When excessive development efforts are overly focused on modularization, it will lead to an imbalance between infrastructure and applications, resulting in a situation where there is more infrastructure than applications.

Obviously, the emergence of 'chain abstraction' is to break the embarrassing situation, re-integrate the modularly torn blockchain components, improve the experience level, drop the threshold for user Onboard, and then promote the rise of applications. In a sense, chain abstraction will make up for the ecological and application imbalance brought by modularization and become an indispensable narrative in the next stage.

2. The abstraction of the chain itself is just a general concept, which can be roughly divided into three specific implementation directions.

1. Tool services promote compatibility of heterogeneous chains, aiming to seamlessly integrate different blockchain environments and increase the proportion of applications for the services themselves. For example, Chainlink's CCIP;

2. Acting as a centralized liquidity provider and an aggregation and scheduling center, it mainly aggregates dispersed assets from different on-chain sources, using more secure and transparent Cross-Chain Interaction information transmission to build a unified liquidity layer (asset Cross-Chain Interaction, message transmission). For example, @0xPolygon's agglayer, @ProjectZKM's Entangled Rollup Network, etc.

3. Adapt to various heterogeneous chains and introduce a unified user interaction layer, build a unified contract scheduling center, Decentralization Solver service coordination center, and other unified user experiences such as unified gas payment, social login, and social recovery on the basis of a series of compatible tools or services, in order to lower the participation threshold for users, and attract more users for a longer period. For example, the BOS operating system initiated by @NEARProtocol, the Intent Solver execution network launched by @dappOS_com for popular applications such as GMX, and the account abstraction and intent fusion solution for the entire chain by @ParticleNtwrk, etc.

In general, some of these are more technical back-end services, while others focus on upgrading the user front-end experience, all in order to unify the decentralized blockchain single-chain environment and expand the user base of the blockchain application market through seamless interaction and experience upgrade.

3. The 'chain abstraction' track is more favored by VC, becoming a key integration point between web2 and web3. Initially, the ETH ERC4337 sparked a wave of account abstraction Wallet development, mainly due to the entry of a group of web2 Internet executives with financing. This is the easiest area for them to understand and leverage their expertise upon entering web3. Building on the foundation of account abstraction, chain abstraction further enriches the business scope, yet it remains the main focus of individuals with rich experience and background in web2.

Compared to the purely conceptual direction of modularization, chain abstraction technology is more inclined to the lower level. The team needs to aggregate real industry resources and accumulate asset TVL and user data rise.

Compared to the modular direction of delineating the business space with 'xxxx as a service' at every turn, VC is more likely to provide a relatively objective valuation, and users can also see the value of the chain itself through objective data, thus providing a better investment valuation reference in the Secondary Market.