【Abstract】L2 Chain for consumers built by Pudgy Penguins team / Native chain abstraction using ZK Stack / Mainnet release planned for January 2025 / @AbstractChain
We are actually preparing an AI agent project on Abstract.
Good morning.
Mitsui from web3 researcher.
Today I researched "Abstract".
🟢What is Abstract?
⚙️ Technology Stack
✨To be released on MainNet in January 2025
💬Abstract is preparing the project!
🟢What is Abstract?
Abstract is a Layer 2 blockchain developed by Pudgy Penguins' parent company, Igloo Inc. that uses zkSync's ZK stack and EigenDA and focuses on providing a consumer-centric blockchain experience.
We originally started with the June 2024 acquisition of an L2 chain focused on the NFT and creator ecosystem called Frame.We welcomed the former Frame team, changed the name, and Abstract was born.
In addition, in July 2024, Abstract completed $11M in funding from Founders Fund and other sources.
Abstract's most distinctive feature is its concept.
As mentioned briefly above, the goal is to create a "consumer-oriented blockchain," a blockchain that more and more people can use normally without being aware of it.
The Abstract team points out that the current general-purpose blockchain is growing across all genres and is not achieving its goal of reaching the masses.
Therefore, Abstract will be divided into phases to clearly focus on use cases.
Phase 1:Discretionary spending (first 50 million)
Phase 2:Necessary spending (250 million)
Phase 3:Essential spending (and beyond)
We have clearly stated that we will proceed in these three phases.
(1) Phase 1:Discretionary Spending (first 50 million)
Consumer-focused businesses built around discretionary or leisure spending, in other words, revolve around applications that occupy a person's free time.
For example, the following use cases are envisioned
Games
Social (Creator Platform)
Trading
Casino
Betting
Digital Collectibles
Tokenized culture
(ii)Phase 2:Required Expenditures (250 million)
Once the initial 50 million users are surpassed, the focus will expand to capturing some of the necessary spending, i.e., integrating crypto assets into various aspects of life outside of free time.
For example, we envision the following use cases
DeFi
DePIN
Cloud
Digital Media
Digital Commerce
Payment
PaymentPhase 3:Necessary Spending (and Beyond)
Once you get past the barrier of necessary spending, you reach essential spending.This is when consumer applications are built around the essentials, allowing users to do everything off-chain that they can do on-chain.
For example, we envision the following use cases
Online Banking
Credit
Tokenization (RWA)
Insurance
Data
IoT
Identity
Voting
We advocate building a blockchain for consumers by dividing it into three stages and gradually expanding the ecosystem, like building a city.
⚙️ technology-stack
We will then look at the technology stack that supports these technologies.
ZK Stack
First, the L2 construction infrastructure uses ZK Stack, an L2 development kit from ZK Sync.This employs Zk Rollup, which enables native abstraction of the entire chain, as described below.
ZK Sync has been working on the Elastic Chain concept for some time now, and has a multi-chain concept that enables interoperability not only with its own ZKsync Era, but also with ZK Chain, the ZK Stack building chain.The image is Optimism Superchain.
Abstract is also expected to work closely with the rest of the ZKsync ecosystem as part of this chain.
Luca, CEO of Igloo Inc. had this to say about why they chose ZKsync
"ZKsync does everything I need it to do.They are way ahead of the curve when it comes to account abstraction.Fees are lower, transactions are faster, and I believe their technology stack will enhance the type of chain we want to build."
(Quote:Cultural Innovation in Blockchain: Luca Netz on ZKsync)
As a side note, Zksync's most recent large reward offering for DeFi has TVL at an all-time high.With more ZK Chains other than Abstract to be released in the future, it may become even more exciting.
Abstract Global Wallet
As mentioned above, Abstract aims to be a consumer-oriented blockchain, a state in which more people can use the blockchain without being aware of it.Thus, its core value is chain abstraction: as the name Abstract implies, it aims for a state in which the chain can be used without awareness.
The technology stack used for this purpose is the ZK Stack, and the key concrete user interface is the Abstract Global Wallet ((AGW)".
AGW is a wallet service provided by Abstract with the following features
Wallet creation via email, social media, or passkey
Paymaster by gas sponsorship
Social Recovery
Multiple signatory setup
AGWs are contract wallets and are created through the following mechanism
EOA Creation: With Privy Embedded Wallets, when a user signs up for email, social accounts, or other login methods, an EOA wallet is created internally.EOA wallets are created internally when a user signs up with an email, social account, or other login method.
Create Smart Contract Wallet: The Smart Contract Wallet is deployed and the EOA address (from the previous step) is provided as the authorized signer.EOA address (from the previous step) is provided as the authorized signer.
The generated private key is divided into three shards using Shamir's secret sharing algorithm and stored in three different locations. Two of the three shards are required to reconstruct the private key.
The three shards are as follows
Device Sharing: This shard is stored on the user's device.In the browser environment, it is stored in the Privy iframe's local storage.Auth Share
Auth Share: This shard is encrypted and stored on Privy's server.It is retrieved when the user logs in using the original login method.
Recovery Share: This shard is stored in a backup location of your choice (usually a cloud storage account like Google Drive or iCloud).This shard will be stored in a user-selected backup location (usually a cloud storage account such as Google Drive or iCloud).
In addition, developers can easily embed AGW in the SDK, making it easy to develop applications.
Panoramic Governance (PG)
The last feature is the governance aspect.
This is a new mechanism designed to encourage both governance participation and protocol growth in the Abstract ecosystem.
Previously, the L2 blockchain increased the number of transactions, which increased revenue for the chain through sequencing revenue, but there was no distribution to the applications or users that contributed to the growth of the chain.This creates an incentive mismatch for the growth of the chain, and PG is a mechanism to match these incentives.
This mechanism rewards active governance participants (users)Active Governance Participationand rewarding the protocols that contribute the most to the networkEcosystem EmissionsEcosystem EmissionsThe selection of protocols is based on two factors.The selection of protocols is determined by user voting.
By distributing rewards in this way, we aim to align the incentives of everyone involved in the chain ecosystem and grow it.
Another important point is that this revenue sharing is done with sequenced revenue.Abstract is building a mechanism that will grow with real demand.
✨Mainnet to be released in January 2025
Abstract has announced that the test net is now open to the public and the main net will be open to the public in January 2025.
The incentive program for the main net was announced just a few days ago.
The mechanics are simple: users and creators who use the Abstract app and perform on-chain experiences via the Abstract Global Wallet earn XP.Builders are also rewarded based on the success of their apps; XP is updated every Monday based on last week's on-chain activity.
Abstract does not incentivize with a test net.Many blockchains do incentivized testnet releases for deposited funds, but we do not do any.This is because, as mentioned above, we believe that building a consumer blockchain is an orderly process and that it is important to create truly valuable applications.
Therefore, the mainnet incentive program is also simple, with XP distributed to users who have an on-chain experience and to developers who engage more users.
Another feature of Abstract is the well-created portal screen for each user.Users can create a wallet and check their assets, swap and trade, discover applications, and even check their rewards, all from one portal.
Mainnet incentives can also be viewed from the rewards page, and they can also earn badges based on their contributions.
No information on the tokens has been released, although it is rumored that $PENGU, a meme coin released in connection with the Pudgy Penguins project, may play some role, but none of that information is known.
💬The project is being prepared by Abstract!
The last one is a consideration, but before that, a notice.
I am actually supporting a project to release an AI virtual human on Abstract.Not much information has been released yet, but we plan to release more in the future, so please check my X from time to time!
So, how was the Abstract?
I am involved in this chain myself, but even from an objective point of view, I feel that it is a chain that is attracting a lot of attention.Above all, the concept is clear, and the technology and UI are implemented consistently with it.
Blockchain projects these days often attract users through more incentives to make numbers.As an initial boost, that is not wrong, but in the end it is meaningless if they do not take root in the medium to long term.
Abstract's intention is to steadily develop the phases of its vision.
CEO Luca once said in an interview that Abstract is like a single super-application, and if you look at it in that sense, each of the measures seems very easy to understand.
Whether it is creating the Abstract portal and unifying all user interfaces, focusing on the application, or not putting excessive mechanisms in place for incentives, it is consistent.
Personally, I find it very interesting that they are putting a lot of effort into the portal, and since they will be able to hold the entrance to the entire chain themselves, there are many possibilities for development in the future.
For example, we can build the revenue models that wallets have, such as auctions for posting top page slots, embedded swaps, and collecting fees for trades.And perhaps create a mechanism to return those revenues to the ecosystem as well as sequencing revenues.
And best of all, it makes sense that they will be driven by the Pudgy Penguins team, which is arguably the most massively popular web3 brand.
We are very much looking forward to their release!
This is my research for "Abstract".
🔗References/image citations:HP / X / DOC
Disclaimer：I carefully examine and write the information that I research, but since it is personally operated and there are many parts with English sources, there may be some paraphrasing or incorrect information. Please understand. Also, there may be introductions of Dapps, NFTs, and tokens in the articles, but there is absolutely no solicitation purpose. Please purchase and use them at your own risk.
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mitsui
A web3 researcher. Operating the newsletter "web3 Research" delivered in five languages around the world.
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The author is a web3 researcher based in Japan. If you have a project that is interested in expanding to Japan, please contact the following:
Telegram：@mitsui0x
*Please note that this newsletter translates articles that are originally in Japanese. There may be translation mistakes such as mistranslations or paraphrasing, so please understand in advance.