We are welcoming you to our weekly digest! Here, we discuss the latest trends and advancements in account abstraction, chain abstraction and everything related, as well as bring some insights from Etherspot’s kitchen.

The latest news we’ll cover:

• Polygon FastLane Now Supports ERC-4337 User Operations
• Limitless Integrates Etherspot for Seamless Onboarding in Prediction Markets
• XION’s Walletless Blockchain For Mainstream Adoption
• In-Depth Research on Cross-Chain Bridges​
• Unichain – an Ethereum L2 Designed For DeFi

Please fasten your belts!

Polygon FastLane Now Supports ERC-4337 User Operations

A new solution addressing the challenges faced by bundlers of ERC-4337 User Operations on Polygon has been introduced by FastLane Labs. This protocol upgrade is designed to enhance the user experience while reducing costs for bundlers and validators.

The innovation behind FastLane’s solution tackles the growing issue of frontrunning in the MEV supply chain, where malicious actors copy transaction data to capture gas reimbursements. Over 50% of bundled User Operations are affected, costing bundlers and wasting valuable blockspace.

FastLane’s approach leverages a new system allowing bundlers to send operations directly to validators without the risk of bearing reverted transaction costs due to frontrunning. This ensures more efficient use of blockspace and reduces costs passed on to users.

Unique to FastLane’s solution is the bor_sendRawTransactionConditional endpoint, preventing unnecessary costs on already included transactions, and validators are safeguarded from DDoS attempts by isolating the transaction endpoint from public exposure.

Notably, the solution invalidates private relays and orderflow, making each User Operation available for bundling by any participant. This permissionless competition boosts MEV capture for validators, decentralizes the network, and aligns with Polygon’s goal to maintain its high-throughput EVM blockchain.

Limitless Integrates Etherspot for Seamless Onboarding in Prediction Markets

Limitless, a prediction market platform on the Base blockchain, has integrated with Etherspot to simplify Web3 onboarding through Account Abstraction.

Limitless enables users to trade and create markets on topics such as crypto, sports, and politics. With Etherspot’s integration via Web3Auth, Limitless now allows users to log in using familiar social accounts like X, Discord, Gmail, Farcaster, and other social accounts, making it easier for non-crypto users to access the platform. By integrating with Etherspot, the platform gains access to a variety of Account Abstraction features that can be implemented (e.g., permissions, session keys, and more) to enhance the overall Web3 user experience.

These improvements provide a more user-friendly and secure experience, lowering entry barriers for a wider audience and driving mass adoption of blockchain.

XION’s Walletless Blockchain For Mainstream Adoption

XION is a Layer 1 blockchain that seeks to remove the complexities and barriers traditionally associated with Web3. By being walletless, XION allows users to engage with blockchain applications without needing to manage private keys, gas fees, or deal with seed phrases.

This shift drastically simplifies the user experience, making blockchain technology more accessible to mainstream users, something that has long been a challenge for Web3 adoption.

The project, led by the team known as Burnt, aims to offer a smoother, Web2-like experience. Burnt Banksy, the pseudonymous leader behind the project, gained attention for burning a physical Banksy artwork and selling it as an NFT, showcasing how blockchain could redefine digital ownership. Through XION, they continue to push these boundaries, focusing on user-centric design and technology.

XION’s core technology revolves around Chain Abstraction, which hides the complexities of blockchain from users. This means people can engage with blockchain apps just like any regular online platform, with no need to worry about things like gas fees.

XION’s Chain Abstraction goes a step further than Account Abstraction by simplifying not only wallet and transaction management but also abstracting the entire blockchain infrastructure, making it more user-friendly and interoperable across networks.

From a technical standpoint, XION’s Meta Accounts system enables users to sign into blockchain services using familiar methods like email or biometric authentication. This adds a layer of security and convenience, making the transition to Web3 smoother.

In-Depth Research on Cross-Chain Bridges​

A recent research article delves into the evolving role of cross-chain bridges as economic engines for the blockchain space. The study highlights how these bridges, often likened to routers in the traditional internet infrastructure, are critical for facilitating capital flow across blockchain networks.

As digital transactions increase, particularly in the form of stablecoins — whose transaction volume exceeded Visa’s $15 trillion in 2023 — cross-chain bridges have processed approximately $22.27 billion in transactions since 2022.

The research explores the operational similarities between cross-chain bridges and the historical Hawala money transfer system, both of which rely on trust and cryptographic signatures to move value across regions or networks. It also outlines the revenue models of these bridges, noting that they generate fees from locking/minting assets, relayer services, and liquidity provider incentives.

Despite their critical role, cross-chain bridges are facing competitive pressures, with the need to innovate through lower fees and improved speed.

The article emphasizes that, like the routers of the internet era, cross-chain bridges must continue to evolve to maintain their relevance. As blockchain technology matures, intent-based and solver-based systems are emerging as potential competitors, pushing cross-chain bridges to find new ways to capture value in an increasingly complex ecosystem.

Unichain — an Ethereum L2 Designed For DeFi

Uniswap Labs has officially launched Unichain, a fast, decentralized Layer 2 built to address key challenges in decentralized finance and to scale Ethereum’s roadmap.

Unichain, as part of the Optimism Superchain, is designed to lower transaction costs, boost transaction speeds, and enable seamless multi-chain swapping across different L2s and beyond.

Unichain offers fast transactions with one-second block times, and will soon introduce 250-millisecond “sub-blocks” for near-instant user experiences. These enhancements are made possible through a collaboration with Flashbots, utilizing a trusted execution environment (TEE) to boost speed, improve transaction transparency, and reduce failed transactions due to frontrunning.

Etherspot’s Skandha Bundler already supports Unichain, enhancing the onboarding of users and developers into this new L2 ecosystem.

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*Learn more about account abstraction here.
*Head to our docs and read all about Etherspot Prime.
*Skandha — developer-friendly Typescript ERC4337 Bundler.
*Arka — an open-source Paymaster Service for gasless & sponsored transactions.
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