The Future of Chain Abstraction: Exploring the Potential of Gravity Chain

In the blockchain field, over-investment in infrastructure has become a significant issue. Due to the long feedback cycle of infrastructure, the lack of product-market fit (PMF) is often obscured, and this situation is more persistent than in consumer crypto applications. The inadequacies of infrastructure at the protocol level allow venture capital to extract excessive value from numerous infrastructure and middleware projects. Layer 1 (L1) has created enormous value by leveraging a vast market space. Subsequently, infrastructure projects hope to get as close to L1's valuation as possible by establishing their own network consensus and block production.

This phenomenon has led to a meme culture permeating the field of cryptocurrency infrastructure. Commonly adopted strategies include: claiming to scale the blockchain, raising excessive funds, announcing partnerships with other projects, launching testnets and exaggerating metrics, and issuing tokens at inflated valuations.

Recently, we have noticed a new trend: chain abstraction. This is seen as the ultimate goal of infrastructure and seems to be the pinnacle of the entire ecosystem. However, this raises a question: if there are no users, who are we providing abstraction for? Chain abstraction is actually an attempt to solve the chain fragmentation problem, which was initially caused by over-investment.

Chain abstraction may lead to centralized compromises, as the degree of decentralization of the system depends on its weakest link. It requires consensus to be reached on multiple aspects, such as state proof, solver execution, block confirmation, and cross-chain transaction guarantees. However, the market will always present faster, cheaper, or more innovative solutions.

Building infrastructure is often a response to poor user experiences. However, when adoption rates fall short of expectations, user experience often becomes an easy excuse to deflect responsibility. In fact, many successful crypto applications did not start with infrastructure, but rather with products. For example, Uniswap, Metamask, and others are reshaping the concept of web3.

Against this backdrop, Galxe (formerly Project Galaxy) has emerged as one of the most widely adopted web3 applications. Its network traffic surpasses that of many well-known platforms, with over 20 million unique addresses interacting and more than 1 million unique visitors daily.

Galxe started with airdrop distribution and has now developed into a comprehensive platform that includes an identity and reputation system. It has successfully aggregated project suppliers and user demand, creating a new market model. By offering strong financial incentives, Galxe encourages users to disclose their identity information, which may generate significant value in the future.

Galxe spans across 34 different blockchains, allowing users to trade across multiple chains without bridging through its smart balance feature. With the upcoming launch of the Gravity chain, Galxe has the potential to become the largest blockchain by transaction activity.

By aggregating user identities and transactions while controlling block space, Galxe is implementing a unique chain abstraction strategy. Along with a few companies like Coinbase and TON, it has the potential to make consumer-friendly chain abstraction a reality.

In the crypto world, rebranding is often seen as a positive signal. Galxe's development trajectory showcases its unique advantages in chain abstraction and user aggregation, which may herald significant breakthroughs in the accessibility and user-friendliness of blockchain technology.