I believe this is a phenomenon encountered by the Ethereum ecosystem: when a solution to a problem is proposed, a supplement to that solution will emerge.
The emergence of multiple Rollups not only brings a paradigm of application chains but also indeed further exacerbates the situation of liquidity fragmentation.
This article will focus on the topic of [multi-chain application construction], exploring market cases under the multi-L1/L2 framework.
- The industry trend of separation leading to unification 🔻
As early as September, Optimism was the first to announce a native super chain ecosystem one-stop access tool, which means that the super chain layout that was previously established is now being connected together.
However, this trend was noted even before this solution was introduced. I had previously listed Optimism as a protocol with potential motivation in an earlier chain abstraction statistics panel. At this stage, it seems not to be fully realized, still focusing on L2 cross-chain interoperability (the latest progress is to support the ERC-7683 cross-chain intent message passing standard).
Moreover, with the rotation of on-chain liquidity, especially with several ecosystems dominated by the meme craze leading market liquidity patterns, simply unifying EVM is clearly not enough. The industry needs to achieve cross-ecological abstraction from both front-end interactions and back-end application construction perspectives.
And narratives like chain abstraction and other similar ones have mostly emerged in the context of cross-chain/multi-chain.
While I frequently mention this concept, I am also paying attention to the protocol developments in the market that are working on these matters.
In this field, whether it is Particle, which just mentioned yesterday, unifying multi-chain fragmented liquidity, or XION mentioned earlier, or Skate, which is committed to building [stateless applications], they are all working on unifying the industry's fragmented patterns.
This article will also elaborate on the latest developments of Skate @skate_chain, not from the perspective of liquidity, but from the perspective of application interoperability to unfold this matter of [unification].
- The construction of multi-chain applications 🔻
First, it is necessary to distinguish a concept: this multi-chain is not the same as that multi-chain. The logic provided by Skate is not like before, where a bridge is provided, and then we participate using Gas from the source chain and target chain.
Skate is introducing protocols that do not originally belong to this ecosystem but have developed well in other ecosystems.
For example, as I mentioned earlier, Skate brought PolyMarket from Polygon into the TON ecosystem. This sounds a bit like third-party deployment, but it is accomplished without changing the original chain interaction logic. We do not need to specifically prepare certain tokens to experience a particular application.
A simpler understanding: I can use Telegram Stars to purchase the latest meme coins on chains like Solana and Base.
This is actually somewhat different from the unified asset example demonstrated yesterday. Skate focuses more on detaching certain applications from the constraints of liquidity fragmentation, while also abstracting away the interaction with bridges and the need for additional official deployment, allowing an application to be accessed on each chain.
The original multi-chain application refers to assets that can support multiple chains entering its ecosystem, but this application is relatively independent. However, under the Skate framework, multi-chain applications have entered multiple chains and are not limited to EVM systems.
In the past, I had an exchange with a developer from the Strk ecosystem, and at that time, I realized the vast developer community of EVM, but there weren’t many sustainable applications emerging. The reason may lie in the fact that some truly useful applications are not known due to the segmentation between chains...
I want to use your application, but I need to bring extra GAS to do so, which itself brings a barrier to entry.
Therefore, whether it is unifying asset states or the status of multi-chain applications, it is essentially simplifying the barriers to on-chain application interactions. Users do not need to understand what Gas is required for a certain chain and can do so from the most familiar place.
Currently, there are over 800 DEXs listed in the market. If mature ecosystems can be accessed across all chains in the future, it will truly enter the competitive stage of application volume, and the industry pattern of [fat protocols and thin applications] will also change, with applications in the same race track no longer experiencing prolonged disorderly and ineffective growth.
Lastly, there is a key piece of information to supplement: Skate's access to stateless applications is phased (illustration is Figure 2).
Phase 1: Achieve seamless access to each application.
Phase 2: Transform applications into stateless ones, maintaining a single unified state across all chains and virtual machines.
Regarding the stateless applications of the second phase, it still needs to be emphasized because I happened to see the latest official demonstration diagram made for the AMM example, hoping to help everyone understand what Skate ultimately aims to achieve.
Additionally, it was previously mentioned that Skate is currently in the pre-TGE stage, and in its latest progress, access can be obtained through a [Skate Visa] as a 'pass' for TG applications.
It enables applications to access other chains on TG while earning interaction points, such as the scenarios I introduced above. More can be found in the tweet link: https://x.com/skate_chain/status/1859614520383050011