Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle, once called for the abstraction of blockchain technology in an interview with Forbes. This statement left a lasting impression on me and ultimately led me to Dante, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing in 2023.
Bringing a billion people onto the decentralized internet is a task that preoccupies blockchain developers and pioneers in the Web3 space. It entails a wide range of strategies but rarely solves the user interface problem that continues to hinder blockchain’s disruptive potential and makes mass adoption a nearly impossible goal.
According to Dante, we can change the world with blockchain if we stop talking about it. As strange as that may sound, there is a grain of truth in it. After all, the saying goes: actions speak louder than words.
Demystifying a complex technology like blockchain is largely driven by the need to educate end users about its potential to change our world while simplifying their interaction with it. But do most people care about how a product is made? Do most people care that coltan is to mobile devices what the brain is to the nervous system?
In the real world, it is natural for most people to overlook the technical details of a technology because they tend to focus on the problem it solves or the purpose it serves. This attitude applies even to the most breathtaking technological inventions, such as the airplane, the cell phone, etc. Most of us hardly care how the airplane works, as long as we continue to enjoy the convenience of using a smartphone and traveling by plane.
Blockchain technology is no exception. Since its advent, the general consensus has increasingly shifted attention from the technical details to a more nuanced and less cumbersome approach, emphasizing the user value of blockchain as an emerging technology.
At the forefront of disentangling blockchain technology from its complex layers is Account Abstraction (AA), a new technology designed to bridge the gap between the complex world of blockchain and the user-friendly experiences we are used to.
What is account abstraction?
Account abstraction is a user-centric approach designed to provide a higher level of convenience and interplay between Web3 and traditional or mobile experience. It is ultimately designed to improve the user onboarding experience by decoupling the user from the hassles of managing a self-custodial wallet.
Since blockchain wallets based on smart contracts and a key pair (private and public keys) are somewhat difficult to use (i.e. often the layers require users to create a wallet, store a seed phrase,
and constantly protect against theft that can result from the loss of the private key), it is becoming increasingly important to align crypto users with the new paradigm.
The key points of account abstraction are to simplify the complex interactions with blockchain technology and allow users to manage their digital assets directly from their mobile devices. EtherMail, an app on the PlayStore that drives the email-as-wallet solution, is a proven example of how this app-to-wallet integration can revolutionize the onboarding process and improve the user experience.
Furthermore, experience has shown that for a mass adoption strategy, it is quite logical to take a user-centric approach and that the main focus must be on creating a familiar, app-like interface that will lower the barriers to entry for users and provide a familiar and easy entry point for Web3 enthusiasts.
Case Study: UXLINK Omni Chain Abstraction
UXLINK, the popular Telegram-based social platform, recently released its own Chain Abstraction Stack that aims to revolutionize the user experience for both developers and users.
Described as a next-generation tool, the UXLINK omni-chain infrastructure is designed to make it easier for users to build scalable decentralized applications across different blockchain protocols, seamlessly bridging the gap between the intuitive user experience of Web2 and Web3.
With a focus on abstracting the complexity of blockchain technology into the background and creating a seamless user experience, it uses Seamless Transactions, a chain abstraction mechanism based on Multichain Gas Relayer services, to mask the underlying complexity of the blockchain protocol and allow users to focus solely on the usability so that they don’t even realize they are interacting with the blockchain.
In addition, the UXLINK chain abstraction stack includes SocialAuth as a mechanism to address the shortcomings of blockchain wallets and provides a high level of convenience in account creation and recovery. For developers, the availability of a comprehensive suite of chain abstraction tools can bring efficiency, simplify the development process, and achieve full interoperability.
Account abstraction on the Ethereum blockchain
It is no coincidence that a revolutionary technology like account abstraction began with the introduction of the ERC-4337 standard on the Ethereum blockchain. For the world’s most popular smart contract platform, the development of this solution was a milestone.
With this feature, Ethereum developers and DApp creators have the freedom to add account abstraction options to their DApps, to the point where they can simplify the user experience to the point where people don’t even think about the underlying blockchain infrastructure.
The core of account abstraction is to make Web3 more accessible to the everyday mobile user, and its implementation on the Ethereum network is such that it is not natively supported. AA can only be designed to work with externally managed accounts (EOAs), but blockchain protocols that provide native AA integration or smart contract wallets can implement it directly.
Diploma
Creating a user-centric blockchain experience is a progressive endeavor, the success of which is critical to the widespread adoption of blockchain technology. Visionaries like Vitalik Buterin and Dante Disparte understand that the path to market with a billion users needs to be familiar and not necessarily a technical one.
The introduction of Account Abstraction (AA) offers a practical solution to the Web3 onboarding process by providing users with a familiar tool to navigate the complex world of blockchain technology. This latest development heralds a revolution in the UX of blockchain protocols by highlighting the fact that a simplified user experience is key to unlocking their enormous potential.
