Unified Rollups: The Innovative Path of Omni Network

Recently, a well-known decentralized exchange announced the launch of an L2 solution specifically designed for DeFi. More and more applications are accelerating the building of their own L2s, whether to gain control over more aspects of the blockchain stack, launch new products, or capture more value. L2 is gradually dominating trading volume and Total Value Locked (TVL), but it also faces increasingly serious fragmentation issues. L2 chains need to make a choice between independent environments and modular infrastructure, the latter of which requires sufficient liquidity to support exchanges before bridges can be built.

Nevertheless, many chains still choose these independent or modular infrastructure providers to maintain control over their rollups. For users, this leads to a poor experience as they still have to painstakingly transfer assets between different L2s to use various protocols. The core idea of Chain Abstraction is that users should be isolated from the underlying chain infrastructure, allowing them to access any application regardless of which chain they are on or what tokens they hold. This concept is currently in the early stages of development, and Omni Network is one of the most notable projects in this field.

Chain Abstraction and the Emergence of Omni Network

Omni Network addresses this issue through two key strategies:

1. Minimize the cost of integrating L2 Omni to the greatest extent.
2. Ensure that L2 does not lose control over any part of its stack.

Omni achieves this goal by introducing a front-end SDK, allowing any application to integrate easily. It has no special requirements for rollups and does not require development teams to upgrade smart contracts. From the user's perspective, it is fully compatible with existing wallet providers, and users do not need to download new software, upgrade wallets, or change their usage habits.

Ways Omni simplifies the user experience include:

• No need to manually switch networks in the wallet.
• Shorten the waiting time for cross-rollup message transmission.
• Automatically handle gas fees on the target rollup.
• Seamless fund transfers without leaving the application.

These are the core issues that hinder Ethereum from presenting a unified platform experience to end users. If adopted on a large scale, Omni will restore a cohesive user experience to Ethereum while enjoying the high throughput and low fee advantages brought by rollups.

Omni's Technical Architecture

Omni is a chain specifically designed to promote interoperability within the Ethereum rollup ecosystem. Compared to other interoperability networks that focus on cross-chain messaging, Omni takes a unique product approach. Above its core interoperability network, there is a coordination protocol that allows Solvers (such as market makers and other market participants) to provide users with prepayments, provided that the funds held by the user on one rollup are different from the rollup where the application is located.

From the user's perspective, token movement is instantaneous. Omni adopts a "pull" model, where resolvers immediately provide liquidity for users on the target chain. This simplifies the user process, allowing them to achieve the desired results instantly, while complex market participants deal with the inherent latency issues of interoperability networks.

When users submit a transaction, they are actually depositing funds into a custody contract. This contract will only release the funds after receiving a cross-rollup message that proves a certain resolver has fulfilled the user's intent. However, to the user, it seems as though they are using the same asset across multiple L2s. With this architecture, users no longer need to consider the complexities of past cross-rollup activities.

Decoupling and Reorganization of Ethereum

The crypto infrastructure stack has been "decoupled" to enhance scalability, modularity, and ownership. While this is beneficial for L2, it has resulted in a more fragmented and complex user experience for ordinary users. Omni aims to "reorganize" these modular components, recognizing that modular L2 is where most activities take place, and create a protocol that allows users to move instantly between chains while enabling L2 to maintain its sovereignty.

Chain abstraction is a relatively new design paradigm, and Omni is in the early stages of exploring the potential of this new technology. Omni could become a key infrastructure that combines the composability of the Ethereum ecosystem with a smooth user experience.