Researchers at the Ethereum Foundation have identified interoperability as the foremost immediate priority in Ethereum’s development.
In a blog post published on Friday, the researchers stated, “we perceive interoperability, along with the projects mentioned in this note, as the highest leverage opportunity” in enhancing user experience over the next six to twelve months. The strategy emphasizes intent-based architecture and general message-passing methodologies.
This means enabling users to define desired outcomes (or “intents”), while the network takes care of the underlying transactions, and enhancing the cross-chain “pipes” (the message-passing framework) to ensure smooth execution of those intents across layer-1 and rollups. The Ethereum Foundation is set to optimize for various metrics such as time-to-inclusion, confirmation/finality, layer-2 settlements, and signatures per operation.
The emphasis on interoperability arises from the fact that the Ethereum ecosystem comprises multiple layer-2 protocols that enhance its utility and scalability, each bringing its own challenges, primarily the issue of fragmentation. The post notes a crucial pain point:
“At its basic level, the key elements to advance interoperability are to enable rapid cross-chain message-passing and standardization. At present, message-passing is somewhat hindered by prolonged settlement times.
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The three streams of development
Developers at the Ethereum Foundation have opted to categorize interoperability efforts into three streams: initialization, acceleration, and finalization. The first stream concentrates on intent-based architecture and encompasses three initiatives: the open intents framework, the Ethereum interoperability layer, and interoperability standards.
The open intents framework represents a modular, lightweight intent-based stack that aids in the utilization of intents during Ethereum development. Production smart contracts are already operational, with audits projected to be completed in Q3 of this year, and cross-chain validation is expected in the final quarter.
The Ethereum interoperability layer serves as a trustless cross-L2 “transport” for prescriptive execution across layer-2 protocols, spearheaded by the Ethereum Request for Comments (ERC)-4337 team. ERC-4337 serves as Ethereum’s account abstraction standard, enhancing smart contract wallets.
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New standards are coming
The final aspect of this development stream involves interoperability standards, which aim to guarantee a consistent cross-chain user experience.
ERC-7828/7930 specifies interoperable addresses, ERC-7811 standardizes asset consolidation so that identical tokens across chains and wrappers can be viewed as a single balance, and ERC-5792 establishes multi-call flows. Additionally, ERC-7683 defines a common intent format, and ERC-7786 delivers a neutral messaging interface, making bridges and verification backends interchangeable.
The second stream is designed to enhance speed at every layer, while the third stream concentrates on the finishing touches. This final stream is currently investigating solutions to augment zero-knowledge proof support and enhance layer-1 finality times.
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