The proliferation of blockchain networks, both layer-1 and layer-2 combinations, has put a spotlight on the limitations of the user experience. These challenges are evident for even seasoned crypto natives looking to move and use assets between chains.
Traditionally, developers deploy applications across multiple blockchain networks, each trading in isolation with its unique state and unable to communicate directly with other implementations of the same application on different chains. Such a process is costly and time-consuming and contributes to what is known as ‘application fragmentation’.
The problem, as identified by Skatechain’s founders, is rooted in “redundant development efforts, liquidity fragmentation, and toxic liquidity flows.” This fragmentation hinders the seamless operation and interaction of decentralized applications (dapps) across different blockchains, resulting in inefficient operations, higher development costs, and poor user experience.
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Skate, formerly known as Range Protocol, seeks to create the first universal application layer for all chains.
Skate proposes “a hub-and-spoke model” that “relies on transactions being matched and executed by users signing intents, which are executed in real-time using EigenLayer for faster finality,” according to a blog post Wednesday has been published.
The multichain interaction would be carried out by a competing set of off-chain ‘executors’, analogous to ‘solvers’ or private market makers in other contexts, with the protocol auctioning the right to settle the transaction between this diverse set of ‘systematic entities ‘. ” said Siddharth Lalwani, CEO of Range Protocol.
“The main purpose of this is that we centralize it a bit in favor of better UX,” Lalwani told Blockworks.
The project has launched its first testnet, built on the Optimism Bedrock tech stack. Mainnet is expected to be live by the end of the second quarter, Lalwani said, with a pilot group of operators before eventually moving to an Eigenlayer AVS.
Current liquidity and interoperability solutions aim to solve apparent user friction at the network level, an approach that Skate says doesn’t get to the heart of the problem: that each deployment still has different states.
The “state” of an application refers to the current state or state of an application at a specific point in time, summarized in all the stored information and data that the application manages. This includes everything from user data and current settings to the application’s own operational data – essentially all data that determines how the application behaves and appears to its users.
“Apps that integrate Skate can run on all chains with a single state,” the team claims. “With a single deployment on Skatechain, apps can communicate with users across thousands of chains.”
The idea, which it calls Universal Application Scope, is to keep the application logic and a unified state on Skate, while the assets remain on their own chains. And not just on Ethereum and rollups, but even on unrelated chains like Solana: the protocol is agnostic to the underlying virtual machine environment.
According to Lalwani, this should provide a welcome advantage for dapp developers.
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“This ensures that the fundamental needs of builders and users are met efficiently, allowing each chain to focus on creating value-added services and laying the building blocks for a modular future,” Lalwani said in a statement .
In the background, the executors of the wills would use whatever the best settlement route is for a particular intention, bearing the latency risk in exchange for a small compensation.
Backing from a host of recognized Web3 names, including EigenLayer, Polygon, Manta, Axelar and Pendle, means strong industry support for the concept.
A future version would focus on handling more complex interactions.
Take, for example, a collateralized stablecoin protocol like Grai. When a user opens a vault using ether to buy/borrow GRAI on Ethereum, and then does the same on a rollup like Arbitrum, each vault (or a “barrel” in Grai’s lexicon) is isolated. That means you can’t take some GRAI on Arbitrum and use it to pay off your Ethereum debt without bridging first.
The application logic on Skate Chain allows the user to see their liquidity and debt as one, regardless of where the underlying assets are located.
“For example, you can put up $100 from Base, $100 from Arbitrum, $100 from Monad as collateral, and then you can actually hit GRAI on, say, Mantle,” Lalwani said.