Chainlink CCIP Live | Axelar Interchain Token Service | Wormhole Cosmos AppChain & More!
Last Week In The Multi-Chain Ecosystem (17 - 23 July '23)
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Bridge Updates
1) Chainlink CCIP Official Launch 💪
Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) is now live on Avalanche, Ethereum, Optimism, and Polygon. CCIP is an interoperability protocol for building cross-chain applications and services and has been integrated by DeFi blue-chips like Synthetix and Aave.
CCIP is also available across five testnets: Arbitrum Goerli, Avalanche Fuji, Ethereum Sepolia, Optimism Goerli, and Polygon Mumbai.
2) Axelar Launches Interchain Token Service (ITS) 🔥
Axelar introduces Interchain Token Service (ITS), supporting Interchain Tokens that preserve cross-chain fungibility and custom functionality, with $SUSHI as its launch partner.
ITS is a product suite that extends tokens cross-chain, preserving native qualities while allowing teams to easily manage supply and features by creating Interchain Tokens.
3) Fantom Pools Live on Stargate 🔗
USDC pool enabling transfers between Fantom and chains like Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism is now live on Stargate.
4) Wormhole Introduces Wormhole Gateway 🎇
Wormhole launched Wormhole Gateway, an application-specific blockchain, powered by the Cosmos SDK.
Gateway’s purpose is to help broaden access (and bring liquidity) to the Cosmos ecosystem as it enables the flow of assets and messages in, out and around the Cosmos ecosystem and beyond.
Gateway also brings additional security features to Wormhole like the "Global Accountant" & "Governor”, making it more robust and sovereign.
5) Bitrefill, Bolide, Sable & Alpha Vault Integrate LI.FI 🦎
LI.FI announced several integrations in the past week, including:
Bitrefill, a leading e-commerce platform for users to purchase gift cards with crypto, integrated LI.FI’s widget to enable its users to bridge and swap any asset into supported assets and buy gift cards for everyday needs in just a few clicks.
Bolide, a decentralized yield aggregation platform, has integrated LI.FI’s Widget, to enable its users to bridge and swap their assets across Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon in a few clicks without leaving the dApp.
Safle Wallet, a next-generation non-custodial crypto wallet, has integrated LI.FI’s SDK to power bridging and swapping inside its app across Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon.
Alpha Vault, a multi-chain smart investment platform for cryptocurrencies, has integrated LI.FI’s widget, to enable its users to bridge and swap their assets across nine EVM chains and L2s.
Multi-Chain Ecosystem Updates
1) UniswapX Launched 🦄
Uniswap introduces UniswapX, a new permissionless, open source (GPL), auction-based protocol for trading across AMMs & other liquidity sources.
The team plans to launch a cross-chain UniswapX that combines swapping and bridging into one action later this year.
2) Introducing Gnosis Pay and Gnosis Card 🦉💳
GnosisDAO announced Gnosis Pay and Gnosis Card, a decentralized payment network and self-custodial debit card.
Gnosis Pay is a decentralized payment network that enables developers to integrate various traditional payment methods, including Visa.
The Gnosis Card is a Visa-certified, self-custodial consumer debit card linked directly to an onchain wallet, built on the Gnosis Pay decentralized payment network.
Neon EVM launches mainnet on Solana, enabling developers to build EVM-compatible applications on Solana.
In the same week, Solana Labs introduced Solang, a compiler enabling developers to write smart contracts on Solana in Solidity, the primary programming language of Ethereum.
4) Starknet Introduces Starknet Appchains 👏
Starknet announced that the Startknet Tech Stack is now available to build Appchains that benefit performance, customizability, and unique features enabled by STARK proofs, native Account Abstraction and the breakthrough in scaling Ethereum.
5) Cross-Chain Support for Linea 🤝
Multiple cross-chain solutions announced support for Linea, a zkEVM rollup by Consensys, including:
Symbiosis — users can enjoy any to any token swaps across different blockchain networks and Linea via Symbiosis.
cBridge — users can now bridge $BNB, $BUSD, $AVAX, and $MATIC between Linea and BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Polygon.
deBridge — deBridge integrated Linea into the deBridge generic messaging infrastructure and the DLN cross-chain exchange protocol.
LayerZero — with the addition of Linea to the LayerZero network, applications can easily integrate with the new zkEVM rollup via LayerZero
Orbiter — users can transfer upto 5 ETH between Linea and Orbiter supported chains like Ethereum, zkSync Era, Starknet, Arbitrum, etc.
What’s Popping?
Today’s “What’s Popping?” is an analysis of the concept of intents in AI-based tools and blockchain by Satyam from Fetcch, a payment connectivity network focused on abstracting the complexities of blockchains.
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In the fast-paced digital universe, where every click, every query, and every transaction counts, the concept of ‘intents' is redefining our interaction with technology.
Picture this: you're using the latest AI-based tool, and instead of merely reading a string of words you type in, the tool reads into the purpose behind those words. Now, move this scenario onto the world of blockchain, and you'll find 'solvers' striving to interpret your goals.
In this article, we talk about how intents are taking over the digital world, from AI-based tools like ChatGPT to interactions with blockchain technology.
Let’s dive in!
AI-Based Tools and Intents: How are they Related?
Tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard have gained significant attention due to their advanced natural language understanding capabilities. Unlike their predecessors, which responded based solely on keywords, modern AI tools consider the context to grasp user intentions better.
While "intent" might sound technical, it simply denotes what a user hopes to achieve, without specifying the means. Think of it this way: if someone asks, "What is a bat?", their intent is to understand what "bat" means. The responsibility then falls on the AI tool to comprehend whether the user is referring to the sporting equipment or the nocturnal creature based on sentence context, prior search history, etc.
To put it simply, intents represent a user's desired outcome. Intents are essentially computational translations of our natural language queries, focusing on the end goal rather than the method to reach it.
Intents on Blockchain: Introducing Solvers
In the blockchain world, the term 'intent' retains its core meaning: it signifies a user's end goal for a transaction without specifying how to accomplish it.
This is where 'solvers' come into play. Solvers are algorithms or entities that interpret and execute these intents. Their role is to determine the best method to fulfill a user's intent, like choosing an optimal transaction path based on user requirements. Once they find the best solution, solvers propose it to the user. If the user approves, solvers get rewarded as per the governing protocol.
Applications of Intents and Solvers
Projects currently have two options when it comes to solvers:
Use decentralized networks like Anoma/Essential.
Develop their own centralized solvers to maximize value.
However, since Anoma & Essential aren't yet on mainnet, the industry mostly leans towards centralized solvers. Centralization might sound efficient from a value extraction point of view for the project, but it has drawbacks for the users because there is:
Risk of censoring specific intents.
Potential monopolization of the value (MEV).
Let’s quickly summarize a few applications that use intents!
Fetcch
Fetcch is laying down decentralized infrastructure to enable pull payments in web3.
Receivers specify what token they want on which blockchain — intent.
Solvers identify the best payment method, which the sender then approves and completes.
CoW Swap
CoW Swap is a DEX aggregator that matches users’ sell/buy orders across multiple DEXs or connects them with another user who wants to buy/sell the same pair, if any.
User posts their signed order on CoW Swap with the preferred parameters — intent.
CoW Swap adds this order in a batch.
Many solvers try to solve this batch, facilitating peer-to-peer transfers or locating the best DEX for the transaction.
The approved batch then goes live on the blockchain.
Anoma
Anoma is an intent-centric, decentralized counterparty discovery protocol.
Users can define intents in Anoma’s Domain specific languages for intents called Juvix
Solvers examine the intent, decide if they can execute it, and then propose their solutions.
Other platforms, like Opensea, Rollup sequencers, and UniswapX, also utilize this intent and solver model.
Closing Thoughts
It’s evident that how we’re interacting with technology is rapidly changing. The digital world is now longer about mere transactions; it's about realizing the true intent behind them.
The emergence of intents as a concept in crypto is timely and indicates the dawn of an era where applications better understand our desires and seamlessly facilitate them.
It’ll be interesting to see how crypto applications embrace the concept of intent in the future.
Interesting Reads
1) Value Accrual: Should protocols make money?
2) Improving User Experience for Time Sensitive Transactions with a Simple Change to Execution Logic
3) xERC20 (ERC-7281) Bridge Support Specification
Get Started With LI.FI Today
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Interesting piece. Please i can't access your discord, i am a member and a jumper OG and among the first and active user of jumper exchange