Exploring Intent-Centric Encryption Protocols: A New Direction for Simplifying User Experience

In the rapid development of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, user experience has always been an important but often overlooked aspect. Traditional blockchain interactions often involve complex steps and expertise, which can be a significant barrier for the average user. To address this issue, a new concept is emerging - intent-centric protocol.

Intent-centric approaches aim to simplify user interactions with blockchain. Users only need to express their ultimate goals without worrying about the specific steps to achieve them. For example, if a user wants to purchase a certain token on a layer two network, they only need to express this intention without having to manually complete all intermediate steps such as cross-chain transfers, connecting wallets, etc. This approach significantly lowers the operational threshold and provides users with a seamless experience similar to centralized finance.

Currently, several projects are exploring intent-based concepts. Here are a few representative projects:

Bob the Solver

Bob the Solver is an infrastructure based on intent trading that can be integrated into account abstraction wallets and decentralized applications. It consists of two main components:

1. Solver: Uses machine learning to identify and classify user intentions, plan the optimal implementation path, and construct necessary transactions.

2. Account Abstract Wallet: Responsible for executing transactions, including bundler (processing transactions) and paymaster (managing gas fees).

Anoma

Anoma is a privacy-focused intent-centric protocol for decentralized counterparty discovery, resolution, and multi-chain atomic computation. Its core processes include:

1. The user sends intentions to the P2P network.
2. The solver in the network collects and matches intentions.
3. The matched transactions go through the encrypted mempool, executed by validators and updating the state.

Anoma is built on Taiga (a zk-circuit based on Halo2), which can be used to deploy Ethereum's zk-rollup and applied in various decentralized scenarios.

Essential

Essential is committed to building intent-based infrastructure and tools to address the MEV problem. Its core goal is to reduce the negative impact of MEV, allowing users to achieve their intentions at the lowest cost. The products that Essential is developing include:

1. General Purpose Domain Specific Language (DSL) for Intent Expression
2. Ethereum and EVM's Intent Center Account Abstraction Standard
3. Modular Intent Layer

These products are designed to simplify architecture, aggregate order flow, enhance MEV resistance, and facilitate cross-chain intent execution.

Flashbots Suave

The Suave project by Flashbots focuses on intent-centric cross-chain MEV extraction. Its architecture revolves around user trading preferences, including the expression, execution, and settlement of preferences. Suave aims to maximize user benefits through full competition while returning a portion of MEV profits to users.

Recently, Flashbots launched MEVM, providing new precompiled features for MEV that allow centralized MEV infrastructure to be converted into smart contracts on the blockchain, while offering privacy and efficiency by moving sensitive data computation off-chain.

Future Opportunities

1. Intent language combined with AI: Utilizing AI technology to more accurately identify users' complex intentions.

2. Third-party execution layer: Develop a secure and stable execution layer that can quickly respond to and accurately process complex transaction processes.

3. Large-scale adoption of DeFi: Some DeFi projects such as Cowswap, 1inch Fusion, and UniswapX have begun to adopt intent-centric approaches, which may further improve capital efficiency and liquidity provision in the future.

4. Full-chain game development: Simplifying player operations through intent-centered methods to enhance the gaming experience.

With the continuous development of Web3, user experience and interaction efficiency are becoming increasingly important. The intent-centric approach provides new ideas for building and operating complex systems, promising a more user-friendly, efficient, and transparent decentralized world.