Why the Future of Onboarding Isn't a Wallet Pop-up

The Problem: Users want the best price across all liquidity sources, but DEXs are fragmented. The Solution: Essential aggregates and routes orders via a solver network, turning a swap intent into an optimal cross-chain transaction.

• Key Benefit: ~20% better prices via MEV recapture and liquidity aggregation.
• Key Benefit: Gasless experience where solvers front gas costs, abstracting another layer of complexity.

The Problem: Centralized limit order books lack composability and custody assets. The Solution: UniswapX is a permissionless, auction-based protocol where fillers compete to execute user intents off-chain and settle on-chain.

• Key Benefit: No gas for failed trades and protection from frontrunning.
• Key Benefit: Automatic cross-chain swaps via a network of fillers, removing bridge UI complexity.

The Problem: Seed phrases block mainstream users; self-custody is a feature, not a starting point. The Solution: Privy provides embedded, non-custodial wallets using familiar Web2 logins (email, social), abstracting key management entirely.

• Key Benefit: <30 second onboarding from landing page to first transaction.
• Key Benefit: Progressive security where users can export keys later, enabling a soft entry into self-custody.

The Problem: Users must manually switch networks and manage gas across chains, a UX nightmare. The Solution: Dynamic's SDK abstracts chain selection and gas management, enabling apps to present a single, seamless interface.

• Key Benefit: One-click chain switching with automatic fee handling and balance checks.
• Key Benefit: Smart wallet integration bundles social recovery and session keys, making wallets feel like accounts.

The Problem: EOAs are insecure and inflexible, requiring new standards for intent-based flows. The Solution: Kernel (formerly Zerodev) provides a modular ERC-4337 smart account stack with native support for session keys and paymasters.

• Key Benefit: Sponsorable transactions allow apps to pay gas, removing the final UX hurdle.
• Key Benefit: Modular security with pluggable signers (e.g., passkeys, MPC) tailored to user risk profiles.

The Problem: Bridging is slow, expensive, and requires manual steps on destination chains. The Solution: Across uses a unified auction where relayers fulfill cross-chain intents, optimizing for speed and cost, with settlement guaranteed by UMA's optimistic oracle.

• Key Benefit: ~1-2 minute finality and best-in-class rates via competitive relayer bidding.
• Key Benefit: Single-transaction UX where the user signs once and the relayer handles the rest.

The modal demanding a wallet connection and gas payment is a ~90% drop-off point. It's a cognitive and financial cliff for new users.

• Friction: Requires pre-funded wallets, seed phrases, and network switches.
• Cost: Paying for failed transactions is a non-starter for mainstream adoption.
• Abstraction Gap: Users expect 'Sign in with Google', not 'Install MetaMask, buy ETH, bridge it, then approve'.

Let users declare what they want, not how to do it. The protocol handles routing, batching, and settlement.

• Gasless UX: Users sign a message; solvers compete to fulfill the intent, paying gas themselves.
• Optimal Execution: Routes across Uniswap, 1inch, and Across for best price, abstracting liquidity fragmentation.
• Atomic Guarantees: User gets the outcome or the transaction reverts, eliminating loss from slippage or failed tx.

Account Abstraction makes the user's wallet a programmable smart contract, enabling batched transactions and social recovery.

• Session Keys: Enable one-click approvals for dApp sessions, removing per-transaction pop-ups.
• Paymasters: Allow apps to sponsor gas fees or let users pay with USDC or any ERC-20.
• Modular Security: Integrate WebAuthn for biometrics or Safe{Wallet} for multisig, decoupling security from seed phrases.

Wallets should be an invisible SDK, not a separate app. Generate non-custodial wallets from email or social logins.

• Zero-Download: User onboarding happens in <30 seconds with familiar Web2 patterns.
• Automatic Gas: Apps can abstract gas via relayers or paymasters, hiding the concept of ETH from the user.
• Composability: The embedded wallet is a standard EOA or smart account, fully compatible with Uniswap, Aave, and layerzero.

User acquisition cost in Web3 is infinite if they can't transact. The winning strategy is to treat gas as a marketing expense.

• First-Tx Sponsorship: Cover gas for the initial interaction to overcome the mental paywall.
• Lifetime Value > Gas Cost: A retained user's value ($100+) dwarfs the cost of a few sponsored transactions (<$1).
• Modular Stacks: Use Biconomy's Paymaster, Gelato's Relayer, or Pimlico's Bundler to operationalize sponsorship.

The existing power user base is saturated. Growth requires designing for people who don't know what a block is.

• Abstract Everything: Gas, wallets, networks, private keys. The interface is the blockchain.
• Leverage Stacks: Don't build your own AA infra; integrate Safe, ZeroDev, or Alchemy's Account Kit.
• Measure Success: Track completed first transactions, not wallet connections. The pop-up is the enemy.