Source: chainfeeds
The majority of the cryptocurrency ecosystem adopts a chain-centric perspective, primarily driven by the perception of scarcity in the blockchain space, balancing security and decentralization with performance and scalability. In today’s multi-chain environment, the demand for cross-chain interaction is becoming increasingly apparent, but the chain-centric design leads to inefficiencies in transactions and fragmented user experiences. In order to optimize cross-chain operations, the concept of chain abstraction has been proposed, abstracting the complexity of underlying chains to facilitate smoother interactions between different blockchains. Against this backdrop, researchers Stephane Gosselin and Ankit Chiplunkar from the independent research institution Frontier Research, focusing on topics like MEV, have introduced a new concept called “OneBalance,” aiming to achieve chain abstraction by constructing an ecosystem centered around accounts.
Composition and Functionality of the OneBalance Framework
OneBalance is a framework designed to create and manage so-called “credible accounts” to integrate users’ operations and assets in a multi-chain environment. These accounts run on credible commitment machines, managing states through resource locks and reliably requesting state transitions, thereby providing a more secure and efficient way for cross-chain interactions. The goal of OneBalance is to change the current scenario where every operation on a blockchain network relies on user-initiated signatures with private keys.
Credible accounts are a core component of the OneBalance framework, operating on credible commitment machines to enable cross-chain functionality and high security. These account types not only manage users’ assets and states across different blockchains but also ensure that requests for state changes are reliable and secure. Credible accounts abstract the complexity of underlying blockchains, simplifying cross-chain transactions and asset management. Additionally, credible accounts abstract transaction fees, such as Gas fees on different chains, relieving users from the need to understand the fee structures of various chains.
Credible commitment machines are the underlying technological foundation that enables the functionality of credible accounts, typically referring to hardware or software environments capable of executing and ensuring the security of complex operations, including Trusted Execution Environments (TEE), Multi-Party Computation environments (MPC), or smart contract accounts. Their main responsibility is to ensure the security of accounts, issue resource locks, and verify the fulfillment of these locks. Through credible commitment machines, OneBalance ensures that all account operations take place in a highly secure and verified environment, enhancing the reliability and tamper resistance of transactions.
Resource locks are a mechanism used within credible accounts to lock user assets or states until specific conditions are met. The design of resource locks aims to ensure the security and consistency of assets during cross-chain operations, preventing double spending or other types of fraudulent behavior. For example, a user can lock specific tokens on one chain until a successful operation on another chain is completed, ensuring that these tokens are only transferred or released once all predetermined conditions are met. This locking mechanism enhances the security of cross-chain transactions but does not eliminate the need for bridges.
While OneBalance itself cannot guarantee complete atomicity, it can incentivize atomicity through its locking mechanism. Users can set trigger conditions for the locking mechanism: either specific conditions that must be met to trigger the lock or unlocking after the completion of specific transactions, where the fulfillment of the lock depends on a series of external events. If certain operations between chains do not execute as expected, the agents executing these operations will not benefit economically, thus economically safeguarding the atomicity of operations.
Comparison with Existing Account Types
The existing main account types are External Owned Accounts (EOA) and Smart Contract Accounts (SCA). EOA is the most basic blockchain account type controlled by a public-private key pair directly, without involving any smart contract logic. Since there is no mechanism on the chain to ensure that the transactions submitted by users are their final decisions, users can submit new transactions by changing the nonce, offsetting previous transactions. Therefore, although EOA transactions are faster and cheaper, they cannot provide credible commitments. SCA is an account managed and controlled through smart contracts, allowing for more complex logic and transactions. However, SCA cannot initiate transactions proactively and has high costs.
In comparison to the existing main account types, OneBalance enhances the security and irreversibility of transactions through resource locks and credible commitment machines, while maintaining transaction speed and cost efficiency. By internally implementing resource locks in a trusted computing environment, without consuming a significant amount of Gas or waiting for on-chain finality, a balance between cost and efficiency is achieved. Furthermore, OneBalance supports modern authentication methods such as session keys and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), providing user experience improvements similar to smart contract accounts.
Additionally, OneBalance can be compatible with the account system implemented by EIP-4337, utilizing the smart contract logic implemented by EIP-4337 to enhance its cross-chain account management functionality when needed. However, OneBalance is not limited to using account abstraction and chains based on 4337; it is a general framework with a wider application scope. OneBalance can be seen as an extension of the concept based on EIP-4337, expanding its ideas and adding cross-chain functionality.
By implementing the OneBalance framework, centralized management and operation of user accounts and assets in a multi-chain environment, there is potential to drive the Web3 ecosystem towards a user-centric perspective. OneBalance provides a unified account interface, enabling users to seamlessly transact between different blockchains without concerning themselves with the differences between chains. This centralized account management also enhances security features and customization settings for users, strengthening their control and protection over assets.
