Unveiling Four Key "Intent-Centric" Cryptographic Protocols

Communication and Sharing

Imagine this scenario: If you own 1000 USDT on the Ethereum mainnet and want to purchase $OP on the Optimism Layer 2 network, how would you go about it?

Firstly, you need to choose a wallet that supports Optimism and configure the network settings accordingly. Then, utilizing a secure cross-chain bridge, you can bridge your 1000 USDT and some ETH for gas fees to Optimism. Afterward, you connect your wallet to the appropriate DEX on Optimism and execute the trade. While the process seems straightforward, it involves multiple interactions, waiting for confirmations, potential network fees, and trade slippage, among other uncertain factors. For newcomers to on-chain transactions, each step can be a challenge, limiting the widespread adoption of on-chain applications. Is there a way to simplify the complexity of on-chain interactions to the level of ease seen in centralized exchanges (CEX)?

"Intent-Centric," as the name suggests, centers around the user's intention. Unlike the earlier scenario, intent-centric focuses solely on the outcome, disregarding the process. Users need only issue a command like "I want to buy $OP on Optimism" and sign it. The intent-centric protocol collaborates with third parties to complete all necessary steps, thereby lowering the barriers to entry and providing users with a seamless experience akin to centralized finance (Cefi).

Several projects are already exploring the concept of intent-centric.

Bob the Solver

Bob the Solver is an infrastructure based on intent-based transactions that can be integrated into account-abstracted wallets and decentralized applications. It impressed at the ETHGlobal Paris hackathon and received the Best Use Case award from 1inch. It comprises two parts:

• Solver: Equipped with machine learning, Solver identifies user intentions and categorizes them to plan the optimal path for their execution. Once the path is determined, the solver constructs the necessary transactions to fulfill the user's intent and forwards them to the account-abstracted wallet.
• Account-Abstracted Wallet (AA Wallet): Responsible for executing transactions, it consists of a bundler and a paymaster. The bundler receives and plans the transactions sent by the solver, while the paymaster manages the gas fees associated with these transactions.

Anoma

Anoma is an intent-centric privacy protocol for decentralized trade partner discovery, parsing, and multi-chain atomic settlement. The core process includes the following steps:

1. User Interaction: Users can send transparent, private, or protected intentions to Anoma's intent gossip network (P2P network layer).
2. Intent Collection and Matching: Solvers (which can be searchers, among other roles) in the network collect intentions and perform balanced state transitions to match trade partners.
3. Transaction Processing: Matched transactions are submitted to the encrypted mempool. Validators send proposer-packaged blocks to the execution layer, completing execution and verifying validity for eventual state root updates.

The execution layer of Anoma is built on Taiga, which is a zk-circuit based on Halo2, enabling Anoma to be used for deploying Ethereum zk-rollups and sharing a portion of Ethereum's security.

In addition to zk-rollup, Anoma can also be utilized for fully decentralized development in areas such as op-rollup, NFT marketplaces, and DEXs. It provides a simplified approach to building and operating these applications while safeguarding user privacy and security.

Essential

Essential focuses on building intent-based infrastructure and tools to address the Miner-Extractable Value (MEV) problem. The core objective is to reduce the negative externalities associated with MEV, enabling users to achieve their intentions at the lowest cost. Essential plans to establish a solver network that captures user intentions and competes to find the best solutions, transforming searchers driven by profit motives into solvers seeking the best outcomes for users.

Flashbots Suave

Worth noting is Flashbots' suave, which targets intent-centric cross-chain MEV extraction. Suave's architecture revolves around user transaction preferences, comprising expression, execution, and settlement of these preferences. Here, "preferences" can be understood as user intentions with conditions and constraints. Executors of these intentions compete, partially returning MEV proceeds to users, maximizing their benefit.

Last month, Flashbots introduced MEVM, providing new precompiles for MEV that enable any centralized MEV infrastructure to transition to decentralized blockchain smart contracts. Additionally, MEVM enhances privacy and efficiency by moving the computation of sensitive data to off-chain execution nodes. MEVM enriches the suave chain ecosystem, generating more order flow. Users obtain better results, and proposers receive higher-quality blocks.

Conclusion

User intentions are often complex and inadequately expressed, which can make finding optimal solutions challenging. Leveraging technologies such as machine learning, user intentions can be identified more accurately, such as inferring needs based on transaction sources and data in the trading domain. During transactions, after intent recognition, they are handed over to a third-party execution layer. This necessitates an efficient, accurate, and secure execution layer, with the caveat of avoiding centralization and potential attacks.

In the realm of DeFi, some projects have embraced intent-centric approaches, potentially enhancing capital efficiency and liquidity. In the context of full-chain games, an intent-centric approach can simplify player actions, elevating the gaming experience. As Web3 evolves, user experience and interaction efficiency take center stage. Intent-centric methods provide novel pathways to build and operate intricate systems, fostering the anticipation of a more user-friendly, efficient, and transparent decentralized world.

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