Unified Rollups and Chain Abstraction: The Innovative Path of Omni Network

Recently, there has been a surge in building dedicated L2s in the DeFi space. An increasing number of applications are accelerating the development of their own layer 2 networks, possibly to better control the blockchain technology stack, launch new products, or capture more value. L2 is gradually becoming the dominant force in trading volume and total value locked (TVL), but it has also brought about an increasingly serious fragmentation issue.

In the face of this situation, L2 networks have to choose between independent environments and modular infrastructure. Nevertheless, many chains still tend to opt for these isolated or modular infrastructure providers to maintain control over their rollups. However, this negatively impacts the user experience, as users still need to frequently transfer assets between different L2s to use various protocols.

The core idea of Chain Abstraction is that users should be separated from the underlying chain infrastructure, allowing them to access any application regardless of which chain they are on or what tokens they hold. Although this concept is still in its early development stages, Omni Network has become one of the most prominent projects in this field.

Omni Network addresses this issue through two key strategies: first, minimizing the cost for L2 to integrate Omni; second, ensuring that L2 does not lose control over any part of its tech stack. To this end, Omni has launched a frontend SDK that any application can easily integrate into its website. This approach does not impose any special requirements on rollups and does not require development teams to upgrade their smart contracts.

From the user's perspective, Omni is fully compatible with existing wallet providers, and users do not need to download new software, upgrade their wallets, or change their existing usage habits. The ways in which Omni simplifies the user experience include: no need to manually switch networks in the wallet, reducing waiting time for cross-rollup message transmission, automatically handling gas fees on the target rollup, and enabling seamless migration of funds without requiring users to leave the application to use cross-chain bridge protocols.

These features address the core issues that hinder Ethereum from presenting a unified platform experience to end users. If widely adopted, Omni will allow Ethereum to regain a "holistic" user experience similar to that of Solana, while also benefiting from the higher throughput and lower fees brought by rollups.

In terms of technical architecture, Omni is a chain specifically designed to facilitate interoperability between Ethereum rollup ecosystems. Compared to other interoperability networks that focus on cross-chain messaging, Omni takes a unique product approach. Above its core interoperability network, there is a coordination protocol that allows Solvers (such as market makers and other market participants) to provide users with prepayments, provided that the funds held by the user on one rollup differ from the rollup where the application is located.

From the user's perspective, the transfer of tokens is instantaneous. The Omni protocol adopts a "pull" model, where the resolver immediately provides liquidity for the user on the target chain. This greatly simplifies the user process, allowing them to achieve the desired results instantly, while complex market participants are responsible for handling any inherent latency issues in the interoperability network.

When users submit a transaction, they are actually depositing funds into a custodial contract, which will only release the funds after receiving proof of a resolver fulfilling the user's intent through a cross-rollup message. However, from the user's perspective, it seems they are using the same assets across multiple L2s.

The "decoupling" of the crypto infrastructure stack aims to enhance scalability, modularity, and ownership. While this is beneficial for L2, it complicates the user experience for ordinary users. Omni aims to "reorganize" these modular components, recognizing that modular L2 is where most activities take place, and creating a protocol that allows users to move instantly between chains while enabling L2 to maintain its sovereignty.

Chain abstraction is a relatively novel design paradigm, and Omni is in the early stages of exploring the potential of this new technology. It could become a key infrastructure that combines the composability of the Ethereum ecosystem with a high-quality user experience.