Chain Abstraction Architecture
Estimated time to read: 4 minutes
Before we get into the details of Arcana's Chain Abstraction (CA) architecture, let's first understand some key concepts.
What is CA?
For Web3 app users, managing multiple chains, tokens, and accounts often leads to liquidity fragmentation in their wallets. Even with sufficient overall token asset balance, users struggle to transact because funds are scattered across several chains. To transact, users must convert assets from two or more source chains into those accepted on the target chain. This is a complex, time-consuming process not everyone can navigate.
Chain Abstraction lets users view and access a unified balance across chains associated with their wallet account, enabling them to transact on any chain. It shifts the focus from having to bootstrap funds to transact on the destination chain to specifying a clear intent for the transaction. This simplifies the transaction process and makes it accessible to a wider audience.
Unified balance
Unified balance shows all the liquidity in a user's EoA account across multiple chains in one view. It lets users transact seamlessly on any chain without needing bridges or pre-provisioning gas for token swaps.
For instance, let us take the case where a user has 0 USDC , 4 ETH on Optimism, 10 USDC on Arbitrum, and 15 USDC on Base but intends to send 16 USDC on Optimism. This would typically require multiple clicks and steps including swapping or bridging assets available on the source chains to get the tokens required for spending on the destination chain. With chain abstraction, user can view the unified token balance across Arbitrum, Base and just sign the intent to send 16 USDC on Optimism.
Chain abstraction handles all the complexity involved in multi-chain transaction while enabling better UX through a single intent approval.
Wagmi Plug & Play Widget
Arcana CA Wagmi SDK provides a plug and play widget that displays the Unified balance associated with the user's wallet address. This widget is available only for the Wagmi apps.
Follow these steps to use this widget:
- Install and integrate the app with the Arcana CA SDK.
- Use
CAProviderto enable the plug-and-play unified balance widget in the app. Learn more...
Allowance
Allowances help activate the Chain Abstraction (CA) feature offered by the Arcana Network. They let Web3 users unlock fragmented liquidity across source chains and spend it on any destination chain, even when they lack sufficient balance there.
With a unified balance on the source chains, users can request funds on the destination chain. By setting up allowances, users permit Arcana Vault contracts on the source chains to collect the funds required to execute the transaction seamlessly on the destination chain.
Allowances can be set up anytime before a multi-chain transaction is initiated by the user.
Benefits
Chain abstraction and unified balances simplify and streamline Web3 transactions by offering:
- Lower Complexity: Users specify their desired outcome and maximum price. Behind the scenes, solvers handle swaps, conversions, and routing securely and transparently.
- Unified Liquidity: Users see a consolidated view of their assets across all chains without needing manual bridges or swaps.
- Simplified UX: It eliminates the technical and time-consuming multi-step hurdles, creating a seamless experience for both experts and casual users by eliminating the clutter between user expectation and reality of blockchain ecosystem.
- Streamlined DX: Developers can enable unified balances in dApps without altering existing stacks. With the Arcana Chain Abstraction SDK, they can integrate seamlessly—no need to write smart contracts or manage chain switching for transactions on new chains.
Arcana CA Offerings
Arcana has two CA offerings, one targeted at the Web3 Users and the other for Web3 builders and developers.
- Web Apps: Arcana CA SDK
- Wagmi Apps: Arcana CA Wagmi SDK
- Arcana Wallet (Standalone)
Architecture
Arcana's Chain Abstraction (CA) protocol manages balances across multiple chains and tokens in Web3 apps. It solves liquidity fragmentation by enabling a unified balance across supported chains. The Arcana Vault smart contracts on each supported chain and the solver ecosystem are two key parts of the Arcana CA protocol. There’s no auction; it’s a first-come, first-served system where the first solver to accept an intent gets to fulfill it.
The user's EoA state and intents are managed across multiple chains. Approved intents are published for 'solvers' to fulfill. Solvers compete to fulfill these intents and provide liquidity on the destination chain. The protocol handles state transitions and settles solver payments using transaction netting.
CA Protocol
- Developer sets up Arcana Chain Abstraction settings enabling cross chain transactions on selected chain types and required allowances.
- App users are required to permit the allowance values or reconfigure them if the app allows. Allowances enable Arcana Vault to collect required funds from the EoA account on one or more source chains, as per the user's intent.
- User submits an intent to spend
ntokens on a destination chain Y and transact via a Web3 app. - Arcana verifies that user has sufficient funds across the source chains in the user's EoA account and adequate allowances are pre-configured to enable chain abstraction, pay gas fees.
- Funds are moved to the Arcana Vault and user's intent is announced to all listening solvers.
- The assumption is that one of the available solvers in the system will agree to service the user's intent. As of today, only Arcana solver is supported. We are working with partners to onboard trusted third-party solvers into the ecosystem.
- Once the solver services the intent and provides the necessary liquidity on the desired destination chain into the user's EoA, the user can instantly spend it.
- Arcana takes care of managing the settlement at the agreed upon periodicity with the successful solvers. The settlement does not happen after every user transaction but after netting and verification process.
- In case a transaction fails, or times out waiting for a solver, user's funds deposited from the source chain are refunded within a stipulated time period after verification.