Skate deep dive: intent-driven interoperability on an EigenLayer AVS
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Deep dive on Skate (formerly Range Protocol), a universal application layer with a single global state, secured by an EigenLayer fast finality AVS with BFT consensus. Walks through intents and solvers, a cross-chain DEX example, leverage loops and composite yield tokens.
Key claims
Range Protocol reached over $3.5B trading volume and $25M TVL before the pivot
Restaked ETH of colluding validators is slashed to compensate affected users
Cross-chain DEX settles swaps on native chains without bridging
The @eigencloud AVS season is just getting started but over the next few months, we will see multiple billion $$$ infra projects launch.
One of them could be @skate_chain, an intent-driven interoperability solution for global apps with a unified state, leveraging an AVS-based fast finality layer.
๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐
@skate_chain was formerly Range Protocol, a liquidity layer with strategies across 12 chains in various assets that reached >$3.5 Billion Trading Volume and over $25M in TVL.
With the pivot to @skate_chain, the team addresses core issues that an increasingly fragmented ecosystem consisting of a diverse backend of L1, L2 and soon L3 chains faces.
Namely, the fragmentation of users and liquidity and the need to redeploy applications across chains with different states, VMs and consensus mechanisms, introducing significant friction on the UX side.
To solve this issue, the Web3 ecosystem urgently requires a central hub that can act as a connector between all chains, providing a seamless and efficient way for devs to integrate their applications across the entire Web3 landscape in one go.
By enabling devs to deploy and maintain a single version of their smart contracts on this universal application layer, they can focus solely on building & refining their applications rather than battling the intricacies of cross-chain compatibility.
โ๏ธ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐จ ๐๐ ๐๐ค ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ?
Skate's Fast Finality AVS leverages @eigencloud to execute transactions and send state attestations under sufficiently trust-minimized assumptions.
In the unlikely event that validators collude, their restaked $ETH would be slashed and used to compensate those affected, enabling these "insured" transactions to happen in almost real-time.
From a high-level perspective, @skate_chain operates at the Execution and Consensus layers within the four-layer blockchain technology stack.
Among the AVS operators, @skate_chain employs a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus mechanism to ensure the security & integrity of the network.
For every round, one validator is chosen to be the block proposer, based on their respective voting power assigned (calculated using the number of tokens they have committed to the network).
Validators are chosen as block proposers in a round-robin manner, with the frequency of being selected proportional to their voting power.
The consensus process is divided into rounds, with each round consisting of four main stages:
โฆ Propose: The chosen validator proposes a block, gossips it to peers.
โฆ Prevote: Validators cast their votes on the proposed block.
โฆ Precommit: Validators sign & broadcast a precommit for the block.
โฆ Commit: A node needs to sign a block, gather commits from 2/3 of validators, record the commit time, and move to the next round.
๐ ๐๐๐ช ๐๐ ๐๐ค ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ฃ?
One of the most significant obstacles hindering the adoption of decentralized applications is the substantial complexity users face when interacting with them.
Navigating complex transactions and fragmented execution layers often leads to suboptimal user experiences, making it difficult to onboard new users and potentially even exposing them to the risk of exploitation by more sophisticated, malicious actors.
Intent-driven solutions are set to fix this. ๐
By allowing users to express their objectives on-chain through signed messages, intents offer a streamlined approach to interacting with dApps.
Third-party solvers can then handle the technical intricacies and select the optimal computational path, while users maintain control over their assets.
This shifts the focus from the "how" to the "what" and empowers users to achieve their goals on-chain efficiently without the need to deal with all the complexity traditionally associated with it, ultimately making Web3 systems more accessible & user-friendly.
๐ ๐ธ โ๐ฃ๐ ๐ค๐ค-โ๐๐๐๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ก๐ ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ช ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐
Let's look at an example of an application built on @skate_chain.
Utilizing intent-driven mechanisms, @skate_chain facilitates effortless cross-chain interactions, establishing an unprecedented level of coherence between different blockchain ecosystems.
This enables global applications to operate with a consistent state across various technical frameworks, effectively synchronizing disparate blockchains into a unified ecosystem.
While apps can take many forms, one of the most straightforward examples is a cross-chain DEX, where @skate_chain streamlines the process of swapping assets across different blockchains, while maintaining a unified liquidity pool and a single deployment of the DEX contract on the @skate_chain network.
The key features of the DEX include:
โฆ Mapping liquidity across all participating chains
โฆ Retrieving swap prices directly through the DEX contract
โฆ Settling asset swaps on their native chains (no need for bridging)
Unlike cross-chain token standards we have seen before, this approach doesn't fragment liquidity by avoiding the introduction of additional tokens.
Moreover, all pricing information is retrieved directly from the @skate_chain, regardless of where on the connected chains the liquidity sits.
๐ธ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ก๐ค & โ๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ค ๐ก๐ ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ช ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐
@skate_chain enables a variety of interoperable DeFi protocols beyond DEXs.
This could include launchpads that allow users to invest in token launches across any chain, such as using funds on @arbitrum to participate in a sale on @Solana or @SuiNetwork.
Alternatively, any yield optimizer that launches on @skate_chain could allow users to maximize their yields without having to change networks in the wallet at all.
This allows for powerful use cases like leverage loops and composable yield tokens.
โฆ Leverage Loops
Users take their restaking yields and have the yield deployed elsewhere, with profits used to accumulate more liquidity rewards.
For example: Yield could be taken to a website like to contribute towards decentralized AI compute resources for profit.
This yield could then acquire additional @ether_fi rewards, creating a form of reinvestment loop.
This could also be used for other forms of investment loops beyond just AI, identifying yield potential that is reinvested through various cross-chain investment strategies.
โฆ Composite Yield Tokens
@skate_chain can create a new Composite Yield Token (CYT) that's a blend between restaking rewards of EtherFi's LRT with both @jito's liquid staking yield on @Solana as well as similar tokens across any other EVM or non-EVM network.
This token could be used as collateral for external networks, such as on @Aptos or other non-EVM networks.
๐ง โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ค๐๐ ๐
@skate_chain brings a completely novel solution to market. A universal application layer with a global state across any chain, powered and secured by @eigencloud.
These kind of innovative use cases is exactly what @eigencloud was built for and @skate_chain addresses one of the core issues the Web3 landscape is currently facing.
While modularity allows us to build highly scalable and customized blockchains, it fragments users and liquidity across chains and causes UX friction.
@skate_chain solves these problems and provides a singular, universal set of contracts for developers to maintain, abstracting all the complexity for developers from the get go.
This will allow EVM apps to deploy on @skate_chain and natively expand to @Solana, @Aptos, @SuiNetwork and other chains without rewriting the code.
In a world where chain abstraction is the holy grail, @skate_chain is absolutely huge.
๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ๐ป.
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