The Future of Onboarding: No Chain, No Gas, Just Your Account

The chain-centric paradigm is obsolete. Users today must choose a chain, acquire its specific gas token, and manage separate wallets and balances for each network, creating a hostile onboarding flow.

The future is account-centric. Users will interact with a single, chain-abstracted account (like an ERC-4337 smart account) that holds assets and executes transactions across any chain, with gas sponsorship handled invisibly by applications or paymasters.

The technical shift moves complexity upstream. Protocols like Polygon AggLayer and infrastructures like Circle's CCTP abstract chain selection and settlement, allowing dApps to offer a unified, gasless interface where the user's intent, not the chain, is the primary object.

Evidence: The growth of intent-based systems (UniswapX, CowSwap) and cross-chain messaging (LayerZero, Axelar) proves the market demand for abstracting execution details away from the end-user.

The chain abstraction thesis posits that the winning user experience is a single, chain-agnostic smart account. Users interact with applications, not with underlying blockchains. This requires a new infrastructure stack for intent expression, cross-chain settlement, and gas sponsorship.

Account abstraction (ERC-4337) is the prerequisite, enabling programmable transaction logic and gas payment in any token. This allows applications like Coinbase Smart Wallet and Safe{Wallet} to sponsor gas fees, removing a primary user friction point.

Intent-based architectures are the execution layer. Users specify a desired outcome (e.g., 'swap ETH for USDC on Arbitrum'), and a solver network, as seen in UniswapX and CowSwap, finds the optimal cross-chain path via bridges like Across or LayerZero.

Evidence: The growth vector is clear. Polygon's AggLayer and NEAR's Chain Abstraction are building this future, where a user's single identity and balance seamlessly spans hundreds of chains, making the underlying technology irrelevant.

Fragmentation is a tax on users. Every new chain forces users to acquire its native gas token, bridge assets, and manage separate wallets, creating a multi-step process that fails the 'mom test' for usability.

The current abstraction stack is incomplete. Solutions like account abstraction (ERC-4337) and intent-based architectures (UniswapX, CowSwap) solve parts of the problem, but they still require users to have a presence and gas on a specific chain to initiate an action.

The winning model is chain-agnostic onboarding. The next phase moves the chain selection and funding logic entirely to the backend, letting users interact with a single, portable account identity that abstracts the underlying execution layer, similar to how Polygon AggLayer and Near's Chain Signatures are architecting.

Evidence: Over 50% of DEX volume now occurs on L2s, but bridging volume has not kept pace, indicating users are siloed. Protocols like Across and LayerZero are succeeding by minimizing the user's perceived need to bridge.

The endpoint is a universal account. A user's single wallet, like a Safe smart account, becomes the sovereign interface, holding assets and signing intents that are fulfilled across disparate chains by a network of specialized solvers.

Gas abstraction is non-negotiable. Users sign messages, not transactions. Protocols like Biconomy and Etherspot sponsor gas via paymasters, billing users in their native token, while solvers handle chain-specific fee payment.

Intent-based routing is the execution engine. Instead of specifying a precise path, users submit desired outcomes (e.g., 'swap X for Y on the best venue'). Systems like UniswapX, Across, and CowSwap compete to fulfill this intent optimally.

The settlement layer is a messaging hub. After solvers execute cross-chain actions, a finality layer like LayerZero, Axelar, or Polymer attests to the completed bundle, updating the user's universal account state.

Evidence: NEAR's Chain Signatures and Polygon's AggLayer are live architectures moving towards this model, treating all connected chains as a single state machine for the user.

The gateway becomes the custodian. A seamless, gasless experience requires a central relayer to front transaction fees and batch operations. This creates a single point of failure and censorship, mirroring the centralized exchange model users are supposedly escaping.

Key management is the ultimate abstraction. Projects like Privy and Dynamic manage user keys via MPC or embedded wallets, shifting trust from the user's device to their infrastructure. The user's 'account' is a share of a key they do not fully control.

The protocol layer is not immune. Intent-based systems like UniswapX and Across rely on a network of solvers and relayers. While permissionless in theory, solver networks tend toward oligopoly, creating latent centralization in the matching engine.

Evidence: The 2022 FTX collapse demonstrated that users prioritize convenience over custody. Solutions offering a frictionless entry point will capture market share, even if they temporarily custody assets or keys, creating systemic risk.

Smart accounts become the universal interface. Users will interact with a single, portable account that manages assets across all chains. This account abstraction standard, driven by ERC-4337 and EIP-7702, makes the underlying chain a backend detail.

Gas sponsorship is the default business model. Applications and protocols will pay transaction fees to acquire users. This paymaster model, pioneered by Starknet and Polygon, shifts cost from users to dApps, removing a primary UX barrier.

Intents power cross-chain interactions. Users will sign high-level goals ("swap ETH for ARB"), not low-level transactions. Solvers from networks like UniswapX and CowSwap compete to fulfill these intents across the best liquidity pools, abstracting bridges.

Evidence: Coinbase Smart Wallet and Safe{Wallet} already demonstrate this future, enabling gasless onboarding and multi-chain management from a single social login, setting the standard for 2025.