How to achieve the transition of the Web3 ecosystem to be account-centric?

Crypto Assets ecosystem long adopts a chain-centric perspective, a design philosophy driven primarily by a perception of scarcity between Blockchain short, a trade-off between security and Decentralization and performance and scalability. In today’s longest chain environment, the demand for cross-chain interoperability is becoming more and more obvious, and the chain-centric design has led to the problem of low transaction efficiency and fragmented user experience. In order to optimize cross-chain operations, the concept of chain abstraction is proposed, abstracting the complexity of the underlying chain and achieving smoother interaction between different Blockchains. Against this backdrop, researchers Stephane Gosselin and Ankit Chiplunkar at Frontier Research, an independent research firm focused on topics such as MEV, proposed a new concept called “OneBalance”, which abstracts the chain by building an account-centric ecosystem.

Composition and Function of the OneBalance Framework

OneBalance is a framework for creating and managing so-called “trusted accounts” to integrate users’ operations and assets in a multi-chain environment. These accounts run on a trusted commitment machine, manage status through resource locking, and reliably request state transitions, providing a more secure and efficient way of cross-chain interaction. OneBalance aims to change the current situation where any operation on the blockchain requires user-initiated signature with a Private Key.

• Credible Accounts is a core component of the OneBalance framework, running on a trusted execution environment to enable cross-chain functionality and high security. This account type not only manages users’ assets and states across different blockchains, but also ensures that requests for changes to these states 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, so that users no longer need to worry about the fee structures of different chains.
• Credible commitment machines are the underlying technology foundation that enables trusted account functionality. They typically refer to hardware or software environments that can perform and ensure the security of complex operations, including Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), longer computing 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 are carried out in a highly secure and verified environment, enhancing transaction reliability and anti-tampering capabilities.
• Resource locks are a mechanism used in trusted accounts, mainly used to lock user assets or states before specific conditions are met. The design purpose of resource locks is to ensure the security and consistency of assets during cross-chain operations, preventing users from double spending or other types of fraudulent behavior during execution. For example, users can lock specific tokens on one chain until the operation on another chain is successfully completed, ensuring that these tokens will only be transferred or released after all predetermined conditions are met. This locking mechanism enhances the security of cross-chain transactions, but does not eliminate the need for bridging.

OneBalance itself cannot guarantee complete atomicity, but it can incentivize atomicity through a locking mechanism. Users can set trigger conditions for the locking mechanism: first, specific conditions must be met to trigger the lock; second, the lock can only be released after completing specific transactions, i.e., the fulfillment of the lock depends on a series of external events. If some inter-chain operations fail to execute as expected, the agents executing these operations will not be able to receive economic benefits, thus economically ensuring the atomicity of the operations.

Comparison with existing account types

There are two main types of existing accounts: Externally Owned Accounts (EOA) and Smart Contract Accounts (SCA). EOA is the most basic blockchain account type, controlled directly by a public-private key pair, without involving any smart contract logic. Since there is no mechanism on-chain to ensure that the transactions submitted by the user are their final decision, users can submit new transactions by changing the nonce, thus offsetting previous transactions. Therefore, although EOA transactions are faster and cheaper, they cannot provide trusted 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 a higher cost.

Compared to the existing two main account types, OneBalance enhances the security and irreversibility of transactions through resource locking and trusted commitment mechanism, while maintaining the speed and cost efficiency of transactions. By internally implementing resource locking in a trusted computing environment, it achieves a balance between cost and efficiency without consuming a large amount of gas or waiting for on-chain finality. At the same time, OneBalance supports the use of modern identity verification methods, such as session keys and multi-factor authentication (MFA), providing user experience improvements similar to smart contract accounts.

In addition, OneBalance is compatible with the account system implemented by EIP-4337, and can enhance its cross-chain account management function by using the smart contract logic implemented by EIP-4337 when needed. However, OneBalance is not limited to using account abstraction and the 4337 chain. It is a general framework with a wider range of applications. OneBalance can be seen as an extension of its concept and added cross-chain functionality based on EIP-4337.

By implementing the OneBalance framework, the centralized management and operation of user accounts and assets in a multi-chain environment are expected to promote the transformation of the Web3 ecosystem to an account-centric perspective. OneBalance provides a unified account interface, allowing users to seamlessly transact between different blockchains without having to worry about the differences between the chains. This centralized account management also provides users with advanced security features and custom settings, enhancing control and protection over their assets.