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imToken 2025 Annual OverviewIn 2025, the focus of the Ethereum ecosystem evolved from purely scaling to the broader vision of Unified Ethereum. As liquidity fragmentation and fragmented user experiences on Layer 2s became increasingly evident, imToken shaped its annual strategy around addressing these divides through infrastructure enhancements.Over the past year, through deep integration with Account Abstraction, interoperability protocols, and the exploration of new interaction paradigms, we moved significantly closer to a “single-chain–like” experience—without compromising decentralization.In the face of the AI wave, we are also exploring a new paradigm for wallets. Our goal is to build a defensive bulwark—using the certainty of code to shield users from the opacity and risks of the AI black box.1. Trends: From Fragmentation to Unified EthereumOver the past two years, while Layer 2 solutions have successfully reduced gas costs and increased throughput, they have also introduced a new challenge—fragmentation. User assets are now distributed across networks such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base. Moving funds between chains has become more complex and costly, and developers face higher operational burdens from deploying and maintaining applications across multiple networks.Against this backdrop, Ethereum established "Unified Ethereum" as its core annual objective. This is not merely a marketing slogan, but a comprehensive reconstruction.imToken’s 2025 Journey: We stayed true to our core values of decentralization, trustlessness, and security. We believe better user experience should never come at the cost of self-sovereignty. Throughout 2025, our work focused on closing L2 gaps and enabling equal access and verifiable security—without compromising user autonomy—reshaping how users enter Web3.2. Infrastructure Reconstruction: imToken’s 2025 Practices & MilestonesTo realize the vision of Unified Ethereum, imToken built five technical pillars across the account, transmission, and application layers.2.1 Account System: Building on Account AbstractionTo bridge the fragmented ecosystem under a Unified Ethereum, reconstructing the account layer is critical. With ERC-4337 and EIP-7702 maturing, Account Abstraction (AA) delivers programmable capabilities that fundamentally transform the user experience: Signature Abstraction: Decouples accounts from private keys, enabling diverse verification (e.g., passkey) and facilitating multi-chain operations via a single signature. Transaction Batching: Bundles complex workflows like 'Approve + Bridge + Stake' into a single, atomic transaction. Permission Firewalls: Enforces account-level security rules—such as spending limits and whitelists—acting as programmable armor for assets. Gas Abstraction: Allows gas payments in stablecoins or other tokens, eliminating the friction of managing ETH across chains. These capabilities make AA the essential infrastructure for driving Web3 mass adoption.imToken’s Strategy: Decoupling Accounts from KeysTo deliver the superior UX promised by Account Abstraction (AA), imToken tackles the challenge of balancing security with convenience. We have transformed AA's core mechanism—decoupling accounts from keys—into a solution that combines Web2-grade smoothness with Web3-grade sovereign security: Seamless Daily Access (Passkey): Leveraging Signature Abstraction, we enable users to sign transactions using biometrics (Face ID/Touch ID). This provides an instant, frictionless experience for daily interactions. Security Fallback (Recovery Key): To mitigate the single-point-of-failure risk associated with cloud services, we implemented a decentralized recovery mechanism. Users can bind their keys (private key/mnemonic) as a safety net. This ensures that even if passkeys are lost or services fail, the user retains ultimate authority to reclaim the account—guaranteeing sovereign control and true trustless security, even in extreme scenarios. 2.2 Value Transmission: Send to AnyoneTraditional crypto transfers face a problem: the recipient must first download a wallet, back up a seed phrase, generate an address, and even hold tokens for gas before they can do anything. This drastically hinders new user onboardingimToken’s Send by Link enables users to effortlessly transfer tokens to anyone. Breaking Barriers: The sender simply shares a link (or QR code) to initiate the transfer. Seamless Claiming: The recipient clicks the link and uses passkey to quickly create a wallet—skipping complex seed phrase backups—to claim the tokens directly. Value Transfer: This solution utilizes Account Abstraction to handle gas fee sponsorship. It delivers on the vision where "anyone can send tokens to anyone without permission," making value transfer as simple as sending a text. 2.3 Interoperability: Building a Unified Liquidity NetworkWith the explosion of L2s, liquidity fragmentation became a nightmare. Moving funds across multiple chains via bridges involved cumbersome steps, long wait times, and low capital efficiency.imToken is aligning closely with the Ethereum Foundation, actively exploring and integrating OIF (Open Intent Framework) and EIL (Ethereum Interoperability Layer). Strategic Alignment: While these standards are primarily led by the Ethereum Foundation, imToken views them as a high-priority annual goal, dedicated to translating protocol-layer progress into user-layer value. Unified Network Experience: Through these protocols, users will only need to focus on "Intent" (e.g., "I want to swap A on Chain X for B on Chain Y") without worrying about the underlying cross-chain path. imToken assists users in completing cross-chain interactions with one click, breaking the invisible walls between L2s and enabling the free flow of capital. 2.4 Identity: Introducing Chain-Specific Addresses to Eliminate AmbiguityThe reuse of the mainnet address format (0x...) across L2 and EVM ecosystems has created ambiguity and deposit errors in multi-chain environments—a primary cause of user asset loss.Addressing this is a key UX priority for imToken. We are actively exploring the adoption of ERC-7930 & ERC-7828 to introduce email-like addresses (e.g., address@chain) Error Prevention: When this feature goes live, both users and wallets will explicitly identify the target network. Typing user@optimism will automatically switch the wallet to the Optimism network, rooting out asset loss caused by selecting the wrong chain. Enhanced Readability: Transforming obscure hash values into human-readable, semantic labels significantly boosts user confidence and peace of mind during transfers. 2.5 Interaction Experience: Evolving Toward Intent-Based UXTraditional wallets require users to think like programmers (authorizing, selecting routers, setting slippage), resulting in a high barrier to entry and frequent errors.Recognizing this shift, imToken is actively exploring intent-based solutions. Declarative Interaction: Users simply express "what I want" (e.g., "Exchange 100 USDT for as much ETH as possible") without worrying about "how to do it." Outcome-Oriented: The system finds the optimal solution via off-chain matching and presents a deterministic result (What You See Is What You Get) before the transaction goes on-chain, reducing slippage and mitigating MEV attacks. 3. Future Outlook: Exploration and Defense in the Age of AILooking ahead to 2026 and beyond, wallets will undergo a fundamental evolution driven by AI integration. imToken is actively exploring how to reimagine the role of the wallet in this new era.3.1 Short-Term Outlook: Interoperability Takes Center StageimToken predicts that as OIF and EIL matures, 2026 will be the breakout year for Interop. Unified Liquidity: Ethereum ecosystem liquidity will no longer be fragmented by L2s but will converge into a massive unified market. Projects will only need to maintain one network interface to reach all L2 users. Invisible Interaction: Users won't even need to know which chain they are using. imToken will continue to invest resources to drive this vision from usable to delightful. 3.2 Unified & Verifiable UIWe are crafting a unified interface to simplify complex multi-chain navigation. However, the UI itself can be a potential attack vector. To advance decentralization, imToken champions Verifiable UI, empowering users to verify the interface's authenticity. This ensures full control over assets and the interface, even if centralized services go offline.3.3 Embracing AI without Compromising SecurityIn the long term, if AI agents become the primary interface for user interaction, imToken believes the wallet's responsibility is to establish a dynamic balance between "Intelligence" and "Security." If we liken AI to a radical "Spear," then Crypto and the wallet are the guarding "Shield." AI is Probabilistic: AI agents interpret ambiguous natural language intents. While intelligent and efficient, they carry risks of hallucinations, errors, and even manipulation. The Wallet is Deterministic: In the AI era, the wallet must be more than just a gateway; it must serve as the final line of defense for transaction execution. Constraining the Probabilistic with the Deterministic: imToken is exploring ways to audit and constrain probabilistic AI behaviors using deterministic code and rules (hard constraints). No matter how intelligent the AI becomes, it cannot bypass the security barrier enforced by the wallet. This ensures that every transaction operates within a framework of verifiability and guaranteed privacy.ConclusionIn 2025, imToken is undergoing a significant shift: evolving from a simple asset management tool into both a bridge across fragmented Layer 2 ecosystems and a security gatekeeper for the AI era.By integrating Account Abstraction, delivering the frictionless 'Send by Link' experience, and alignment with Ethereum Foundation interoperability standards, imToken is building a foundation for a unified user experience.As we move into an AI-driven future, imToken remains anchored to the principle of determinism — ensuring that in a world of algorithms and probabilities, users retain ultimate control over their wealth. 

“The blockchain trilemma”—you’ve probably heard the term more times than you can count.In Ethereum’s first decade, the trilemma felt like a law of physics: you could optimize for two of decentralization, security, and scalability—but not all three at once.Yet from the vantage point of early 2026, it’s starting to look less like an unbreakable rule—and more like a design constraint that can be pushed back through technical evolution.As Vitalik Buterin put it on January 8:“Increasing bandwidth is safer than reducing latency.With PeerDAS and ZKPs, we know how to scale, and potentially we can scale thousands of times compared to the status quo.”So here’s the real question: can the once “impossible” triangle finally be broken through, as PeerDAS, ZK technology, and account abstraction mature?1. Why Has the Trilemma Been So Hard to Solve?First, let’s revisit the concept Vitalik introduced: the blockchain trilemma, which describes why public blockchains struggle to maximize all three at once: Decentralization — low barriers to running nodes, broad participation, and no reliance on any single party Security — staying consistent under attacks, censorship, and adversarial behavior Scalability — high throughput, low latency, and a smooth user experience The problem is that, under traditional designs, these goals tend to pull against each other. More throughput usually means higher hardware requirements—or centralized coordination. Lighter node workloads can weaken security assumptions. Extreme decentralization often comes at the cost of performance and user experience. Over the past 5–10 years, different chains have tried different trade-offs—from early EOS, to Polkadot and Cosmos, to performance-first designs like Solana, Sui, and Aptos. Some traded decentralization for speed. Some improved efficiency via permissioned validators or committee-based coordination. Others accepted lower performance in exchange for censorship resistance and open validation.But the shared reality remained: most scaling approaches could satisfy only two—and inevitably sacrificed the third.Put differently, most approaches stayed trapped in a monolithic-chain tug-of-war: faster performance typically required stronger nodes, while wider participation meant slowing down. A seemingly dead-end problem.But if we set aside the monolithic vs. modular debate and look at Ethereum’s shift since 2020 toward a rollup-centric, layered architecture—alongside the rapid maturation of ZK proofs—a pattern emerges.Over the past five years, Ethereum has been steadily reworking the underlying assumptions behind the trilemma—one engineering step at a time.In practice, Ethereum has been decoupling constraints that used to be tightly linked—turning what once felt like a philosophical debate into something increasingly solvable in engineering.2. An Engineering Approach: “Divide and Conquer”Let’s break down the engineering work—and see how, across 2020–2025, Ethereum has pushed forward on multiple technical tracks to loosen the trilemma’s trade-offs.(1) PeerDAS: Decoupling Scalability From Data AvailabilityIn the trilemma, data availability (DA) is often the first bottleneck.Traditional blockchains require every full node to download and verify all block data. That helps protect security—but it also puts a hard ceiling on scalability. This is also why DA-focused projects like Celestia gained so much attention in past cycles.Ethereum’s approach isn’t to make nodes more powerful—it’s to change how nodes verify data, with PeerDAS (Peer Data Availability Sampling) at the center.It no longer requires every node to download full block data. Instead, block data is split and encoded, and nodes randomly sample small portions to check availability. If data is withheld, the chance of detection rises rapidly—allowing throughput to scale while ordinary nodes can still participate.This improves scalability without sacrificing decentralization, by lowering the verification cost through math and engineering. (Further reading: “Inside PeerDAS—How PeerDAS Helps Ethereum Reclaim “Data Sovereignty”)Vitalik has emphasized that PeerDAS is moving from roadmap to deployment—a concrete step forward on the scalability × decentralization axis.(2) zkEVM: Reducing the Need for Every Node to Re-Execute All ComputationNext comes zkEVM, which targets a fundamental question:Does every node really need to re-run every computation?The core idea is to enable Ethereum L1 to generate and verify ZK proofs, so nodes can confirm block correctness without re-executing every computation.In other words: after block execution, the system outputs a verifiable mathematical proof, allowing other nodes to confirm correctness without repeating the work.The benefits of zkEVM largely fall into three areas: Faster verificationNodes verify a ZK proof instead of replaying transactions. Lower node burdenReduces compute and storage pressure, making light clients and cross-chain verifiers easier to run. Stronger security propertiesCompared with optimistic approaches, validity is confirmed on-chain through proofs, with clearer security boundaries. Recently, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) released a real-time proof standard for L1 zkEVM, signaling that the ZK path is now part of Ethereum’s mainnet-level planning. Over the next year, Ethereum is expected to move toward an environment where verification increasingly shifts from:re-execution → proof verification.Vitalik sees zkEVM as approaching early production readiness; the hardest problems now are long-term security and implementation complexity.EF’s targets include sub-10-second proving latency, proof sizes under 300 KB, 128-bit security, avoiding trusted setup, and enabling everyday devices to participate in proving to keep decentralization barriers low. (Further reading: ZK Dawn: Is Ethereum’s Endgame Accelerating?”)(3) Beyond PeerDAS + ZK: A Multi-Dimensional Push Toward 2030Beyond these two pillars, Ethereum’s pre-2030 roadmap (e.g., The Surge, The Verge, and more) is advancing on multiple fronts—pushing throughput higher, reshaping the state model, raising gas limits, and improving the execution layer, among other upgrades.These efforts are long-term iteration and accumulation—aimed at higher blob throughput, clearer Rollup specialization, and more stable execution and settlement, laying the groundwork for multi-chain coordination and interoperability.Crucially, these aren’t isolated upgrades—they’re designed as composable modules that reinforce each other.This reflects Ethereum’s engineering approach to the trilemma: not chasing a single “silver bullet,” but reshaping the architecture to rebalance costs and risks over multiple layers.3. The 2030 Vision: Ethereum’s “Endgame” FormEven so, it’s worth staying cautious—because “decentralization” and similar goals aren’t static metrics, but outcomes that evolve over time.Ethereum is gradually mapping the trilemma’s boundaries through engineering. As verification (re-execution → sampling), data structures (state growth → state expiry), and execution models (monolithic → modular) evolve, the old trade-offs shift—bringing us closer to a system that can deliver all three.In recent discussions, Vitalik has shared a relatively clear time window: 2026: With execution-layer and block-building improvements (e.g., ePBS), gas limits may rise even without zkEVM, while enabling broader zkEVM participation 2026–2028: Changes to gas pricing, state structure, and execution-load organization to stay safe under higher load 2027–2030: As zkEVM becomes a major validation path, gas limits may rise further, moving toward more distributed block construction With recent roadmap updates, we can already see three defining traits of Ethereum’s pre-2030 direction—together forming its long-term answer to the trilemma: A minimal L1L1 becomes a solid, neutral base layer focused on data availability and settlement, rather than complex application logic—helping preserve strong security. A thriving L2 ecosystem + interoperabilityWith an interoperability layer (EIL) and faster confirmations, fragmented L2s can feel like one system—so users don’t notice “chains,” only performance at the scale of 100,000 TPS. Ultra-low verification barriersWith mature state handling and light-client tech, even smartphones can participate in verification—keeping decentralization strong. Interestingly, while writing this piece, Vitalik emphasized another crucial benchmark: The Walkaway Test.Ethereum should remain functional even if service providers disappear or are attacked—DApps still run, and user assets stay safe.This reframes the endgame benchmark away from speed and UX—and back to Ethereum’s core priority:In the worst-case scenario, can the system still be trusted—without relying on any single point of failure?Closing ThoughtsIn fast-moving fields like Web3/Crypto, it helps to look at debates through the lens of long-term progress.Years from now, the 2020–2025 trilemma debates may feel like people arguing—before cars existed—about how a horse carriage could maximize speed, safety, and load capacity at the same time.Ethereum’s answer isn’t a painful “pick two” trade-off. It’s a layered engineering path—combining PeerDAS, ZK proofs, and carefully designed economic incentives—to build infrastructure that is open, secure, and capable of supporting global-scale financial activity.And in a very real sense, every step forward is another step beyond the old “blockchain trilemma” era.

Introduction: Beyond mnemonic phrases—how else can we manage our assets?For a long time, mnemonic phrases have been both the “key” to Web3 and a major source of stress. You have to write it down, verify it, and store it carefully—because in the traditional account model, losing your mnemonic phrases (private key) can mean losing access to your assets permanently.That strict rule underpins decentralized security—but it also raises the bar for everyday users. Can we keep decentralization’s core benefits while making accounts as easy to manage and recover as Web2 apps?The answer is Account Abstraction (AA).AA is redefining how we manage digital assets. imToken Web is a next-generation wallet built on AA, designed to show that a safer experience doesn’t require you to be a cryptography expert. In this article, we’ll break down AA in plain English—and how it can reshape your digital life.The trilemma of traditional accountsTo see why AA matters, let’s start with the most common account type today: an Externally Owned Account (EOA)—the kind you create in wallets such as imToken App.EOAs are low-level and rigid by design: whoever controls the private key controls the account. Your private key is mathematically bound to your address. That creates a tough tradeoff—stronger security (offline storage, cold wallets) often means less convenience, while more convenience can increase the risk of key exposure. And unlike Web2 accounts, there’s no “forgot password” option—there’s very little room for error.EOAs also come with UX constraints. For example, you usually need a chain’s native token (like ETH) to pay gas fees. If you hold USDT but don’t have ETH, you may not be able to send even a simple transaction.With Layer 2 networks reducing on-chain costs, and with standards like ERC-4337 maturing (and EIP-7702 coming into effect), AA is reaching a point where broader adoption is possible. AA aims to break this deadlock by making account control more flexible than a single, rigid private-key rule.Key concept: from a “key” to a smart assistantIn one sentence: AA turns an account from a “key” into a “smart assistant.”In the EOA world, the protocol enforces the rules: if the signature matches the private key, the transaction goes through. In AA, the account itself is an on-chain smart contract.That means the account’s rules are no longer fixed—they’re programmable. For example, you could set rules like: “Only allow transfers when conditions A and B are met,” “Cap daily transfers at 1,000 USDT,” or “If I lose access, let my guardians help reset control.”This shift separates ownership from signing authority. You still own the account, but you can control it in more flexible ways—without being limited to a single private key.How does AA improve your experience?We’ll look at AA from four angles: verification (how you sign in), execution (how you transact), fees (how you pay), and evolution (how your wallet grows).1. Verification: from mnemonic phrases to safer, frictionless sign-inAA’s most visible change is support for modern authentication, so users aren’t forced to rely on mnemonic phrases.Hardware-level securityWith AA accounts (such as imToken Web), you can manage assets using a Passkey. Passkey is based on the WebAuthn standard and uses the secure chip on your phone (iPhone/Android) or computer to generate and store cryptographic keys.Day to day, you can sign with Face ID or your fingerprint. It’s more convenient than managing mnemonic phrases—and often safer—because the private key stays in the device’s secure chip and never goes online. Passkey is also phishing-resistant: it’s bound to a site’s domain, so a spoofed website can’t trick you into creating a valid signature.Account recoveryWith AA, losing a device doesn’t have to mean losing your assets. Because the account is a smart contract, you can set recovery rules in advance—similar to changing a lock. For example, you can assign an EOA wallet, a social account, or trusted friends and family as guardians. If you can’t access the account, you can start a recovery process and, once guardians confirm, reset control and regain access.2. Execution: from manual steps to intent-driven actionsOn-chain interactions often take multiple steps. For example, to swap tokens, you usually submit an Approve transaction (and wait), then submit a Swap transaction (and wait again). That costs extra gas and makes the experience feel fragmented.AA supports atomic batching, which bundles multiple actions (like Approve + Swap) into a single operation. You tap Swap once, and the wallet handles the rest. On-chain, everything either succeeds together or fails together—so you don’t end up with “approved, but didn’t swap.”This points to an intent-centric future for Web3: you state what you want—“swap A for B”—without worrying about routes or steps. AA accounts, together with backend solver networks, can find and execute the best path automatically.3. Fees: pay without holding the native tokenFor many newcomers, the most confusing experience is:“I have 1,000 USDT, but I can’t send anything because I don’t have ETH for gas.”AA introduces Paymaster (a gas-sponsoring contract), which changes how fees are paid. Apps can deploy on-chain rules for exchange rates or subsidies, such as:Pay gas with tokens: You can pay gas using tokens in your account (for example, USDC). In the background, Paymaster can convert at a set rate and pay the required ETH to the Bundler. This makes payments feel more natural—without requiring you to hold the native token first.Gasless: In some cases (such as onboarding or campaigns), the project can sponsor gas fees, so users can interact without worrying about gas at all.4. Evolution: a wallet that grows with your needsTraditional wallets tend to be fixed. Because AA accounts are smart contracts, they can be modular—like a smart assistant that keeps learning new skills and evolves with your needs. Tailored experience: beginners can start with a simple interface for transfers and payments that’s easy to learn. Expandable features: as you gain experience—or manage larger amounts—you can add modules, such as multisig protection or daily spending limits. This modular design makes an AA account more than a static tool—it’s a flexible platform that can be combined and upgraded to support users from first steps to advanced use.The future of EOAs: can existing accounts be upgraded?Most of the improvements above are built on ERC-4337, the most mature AA approach today. In many cases, it requires creating a new AA account.You might ask: “What if I don’t want to give up an address I’ve used for years—or go through the hassle of migrating assets?”EIP-7702 answers this by enabling existing EOAs to upgrade in place.The core mechanism is code delegation. Traditionally, an EOA can only execute actions authorized by a private-key signature. With EIP-7702, you can sign a special message to temporarily attach smart contract code to your EOA during a transaction.This means you keep the same private key and address, but when you transact, your account can temporarily behave like a programmable smart contract. It removes the “EOAs aren’t programmable” limitation—so you can use AA-style features without changing addresses, while still keeping control of your assets.Conclusion: making the wallet “invisible”The best technology often feels like it isn’t there.In the EOA era, users are forced to learn concepts like private keys, nonce, and gas price—much like asking every internet user to understand TCP/IP. AA’s goal is to make wallets both powerful and “invisible.”With Passkey, you no longer have to manage unfamiliar mnemonic phrases. With Paymaster, you’re no longer blocked by the need to hold tokens for gas. And with a modular design, your wallet can grow with you.AA isn’t just a technical upgrade—it’s a key step toward making Web3 usable for everyone.

In the previous article of our Interop series, we introduced the Open Intents Framework (OIF). Think of it as a universal language that lets users express intents like “I want to buy an NFT across chains,” and have network-wide solvers understand them. (Read more: Intents Standardized: How OIF Ends Cross-Chain Fragmentation.)But understanding an intent isn’t enough — something still has to make it happen.After you broadcast your intent, how does your funds move safely from Base to Arbitrum? How does the destination chain verify your signature? And who pays gas on the target chain?This brings us to the core of the “Initialization” phase in Ethereum’s interoperability roadmap: the Ethereum Interoperability Layer (EIL). At the recent Devconnect, the Ethereum Foundation’s account abstraction team officially pushed EIL into the spotlight.Put simply, EIL has an ambitious goal: without a hard fork and without changing Ethereum’s base-layer consensus, make using any L2 feel just like using a single chain.1. What exactly is EIL?To understand EIL, don't let the word “Layer” mislead you. EIL is not a new blockchain, and it’s not a traditional cross-chain bridge.At its core, EIL is a suite of standards and frameworks. By combining account abstraction (ERC-4337) with cross-chain messaging, it aims to create a virtual, unified execution environment.In today’s Ethereum ecosystem, each L2 is effectively an island. For example, your EOA on Optimism and your EOA on Arbitrum may share the same address, but their states are completely isolated: A signature on Chain A can’t be directly verified on Chain B. Assets on Chain A are invisible to Chain B. EIL attempts to break this isolation through two key components:1) ERC-4337-based smart accounts — account abstraction decouples account logic from keys. With EIL-style extensions: Paymasters sponsor gas on the destination chain, solving the “no gas where I’m going” problem. Key Managers help keep account state in sync across multiple chains. 2) A trust-minimized messaging layer — a standard way to package and transmit UserOps across chains via official rollup bridges or light-client proofs, so messages can move safely without relying on new centralized relayers.Here’s a simple analogy:Cross-chain today is like traveling abroad: you exchange currency (move assets), apply for a visa (re-authorize), and follow local traffic rules (buy destination-chain gas).Cross-chain in an EIL world is more like paying with a Visa card: you sign once, and the underlying banking network — the EIL infrastructure — automatically handles FX, settlement, and verification. You don’t feel the border at all.That’s the future the Ethereum Foundation’s account abstraction team is describing: with a single signature, you can complete a cross-chain transaction directly from your wallet, seamlessly settling across L2s, without relying on centralized relayers or adding new trust assumptions.In many ways, this is closer to the “final form” of account abstraction. Compared with today’s high-friction, fragmented workflows, this model helps automate account creation, private key management, and complex cross-chain execution behind the scenes.And with native account abstraction (AA) maturing, every account could become a smart account. Users would no longer need to worry about gas — perhaps not even know it exists — and could focus purely on on-chain experiences and asset management.2. From “Cross-Chain” to “Chain Abstraction”If EIL lands as envisioned, it could unlock the “last mile” of mass Web3 adoption. It marks a shift from multi-chain competition to chain-abstracted convergence, tackling the pain points that trouble both users and developers most.For users: a true “single-chain experience”For users, EIL enables a true “single-chain experience.” Under the EIL framework, you no longer need to switch networks manually.For example, your funds are on Base, but you want to play a game on Arbitrum: you just click “Start,” sign once when your wallet pops up, and you’re in.Behind the scenes, EIL packages your UserOp on Base, sends it through the messaging layer to Arbitrum, and a Paymaster covers gas and entry fees — so it feels as smooth as playing directly on Base.For security: beyond multisig bridge single points of failureFrom a security perspective, EIL moves beyond the single-point-of-failure risk of multisig bridges. Traditional bridges rely on external validator sets (multisigs): if they’re compromised, billions in assets are at risk.EIL instead emphasizes trust minimization, leaning on L2-native security — for example, storage-proof-based verification — to validate cross-chain messages rather than third-party trust. In short, as long as Ethereum L1 remains secure, cross-chain interactions are comparatively safe.For developers: one account standard across chainsFor developers, EIL offers a unified account standard. Today, a DApp that wants to go multi-chain often has to maintain several code paths.With EIL, you can assume users effectively have a cross-network account: as long as you build against the ERC-4337 standard, your app can naturally serve users across L2s without worrying which chain actually holds their funds.But there’s still a major engineering problem: how do we let hundreds of millions of existing EOA users enjoy this experience? (See also: From EOA to AA: Will Web3’s Next Leap Happen at the Account Layer?)Migrating from an EOA to an AA account usually means moving assets to a new address — far too much friction for most users. This is where Vitalik Buterin’s EIP-7702 comes in. It neatly resolves the long-standing compatibility debates among EIP-4337, EIP-3074, and EIP-5003 by doing something clever: it lets an existing EOA temporarily “transform” into a smart contract account during a transaction.This means you don’t need to register a new wallet or move assets from your current imToken address into a new AA account. Instead, with EIP-7702 your existing account can temporarily gain smart-account capabilities — like batch approvals, gas sponsorship, and cross-chain atomic operations — and then revert to a fully compatible EOA once the transaction is done.3. EIL’s Path to Reality — and What Comes NextCompared with OIF’s more community-driven, bottom-up approach, EIL carries a much stronger “official” imprint. It’s a pragmatic infrastructure effort led by the Ethereum Foundation’s account abstraction team — the same group behind ERC-4337.Current progress mainly shows up along three key tracks: Multi-chain expansion of ERC-4337 — extending the UserOp structure with cross-chain parameters such as destination chain IDs, the first step toward giving smart accounts real “cross-chain visibility.” Coordination with ERC-7702 — as EIP-7702 rolls out, everyday EOA users can plug into the EIL network seamlessly, sharply lowering adoption barriers. Standardized messaging interfaces — similar to how OIF standardizes intents, EIL is standardizing message transport at the infrastructure layer. Optimism’s Superchain, Polygon’s AggLayer, and ZKsync’s Elastic Chain are all exploring interoperability within their own ecosystems; EIL’s goal is to connect these heterogeneous worlds into a shared, network-wide messaging layer. Even more interesting, EIL’s vision goes beyond just “connecting” chains — it’s also filling in another key base-layer capability: privacy.If EIP-7702 and AA solve accessibility, then the Kohaku privacy framework that Vitalik unveiled at Devconnect may be the next puzzle piece, echoing another core idea from the Trustless Manifesto: censorship resistance.At Devconnect, Vitalik was blunt: “privacy is freedom.” He noted that Ethereum is already on a privacy-upgrade path aimed at delivering real-world levels of privacy and security. To that end, the Ethereum Foundation has set up a dedicated privacy team of 47 researchers, engineers, and cryptographers, working to make privacy a true “first-class” property of Ethereum.This means privacy will no longer be an optional add-on, but a basic capability as natural as sending a transfer. As a concrete step toward that vision, the Kohaku framework uses your public key to create temporary stealth addresses, allowing you to perform private actions without revealing links back to your main wallet.Under this design, future AA accounts will be more than asset management tools — they’ll also act as privacy shields. By integrating protocols like Railgun and Privacy Pools, AA accounts can help users protect transaction privacy while still providing compliant “proofs of innocence”: you can show that your funds are not illicit without exposing your full spending path.The Roadmap in One ViewTaken together, Ethereum’s interoperability roadmap becomes clear: OIF (Intent Framework): helps the application layer understand what users want. EIL (Interoperability Layer): lays the infrastructure to execute those intents seamlessly. This is likely the signal the Ethereum Foundation wants to send: Ethereum shouldn’t be a loose collection of L2s, but a single, unified supercomputer. When EIL truly lands, we may no longer need to explain what an L2 or a cross-chain bridge is to new users — they’ll simply see their assets, not the borders between chains.

In the previous Ethereum Interop Roadmap article, we noted that the Ethereum Foundation (EF) has set out a three-step interoperability strategy to improve user experience (UX): Initialization, Acceleration, and Finalization (see also “Ethereum Interop Roadmap: Solving the Last Mile to Mass Adoption”).If we think of Ethereum’s future as a large highway network, then Acceleration and Finalization focus on smoothing the road and raising the speed limit. But before that, there’s a more fundamental pain point: different cars (DApps and wallets) and different toll booths (L2s and bridges) speak completely different “languages.”This is exactly what the Initialization phase is designed to solve—and the Open Intents Framework (OIF) is its most important “common language.”At Devconnect in Argentina, much of the discussion focused on the Ethereum Interoperability Layer (EIL). OIF, however, is just as important: as the “glue” between the application layer and the protocol layer, it is also a prerequisite for realizing the EIL vision. In this article, we’ll break down this seemingly abstract but UX-critical OIF and how it works.1. What Is OIF? From Transactions to IntentsTo understand OIF, we first need to recognize a fundamental paradigm shift in Web3 interactions: a move from “transactions” to “intents.”Let’s start with a real pain point for a typical user. Suppose you want to swap USDC on Arbitrum for ETH on Base. In today’s Ethereum ecosystem, that usually turns into a marathon of on-chain operations:You need to manually switch your wallet to Arbitrum, approve a bridge contract, sign a cross-chain transaction, open another aggregator, and finally swap the bridged USDC on Base into ETH. Along the way, you calculate gas and slippage yourself, watch for cross-chain delays, and stay alert to contract risk. A simple need becomes a long chain of technical steps instead of a clear, straightforward flow.This reflects the traditional “transaction” model in Web3. It’s like taking a taxi to the airport but having to plan every turn yourself: first left, then straight for 500 meters, then the overpass, then the exit ramp, and so on. On-chain, that means manually bridging → approving → swapping step by step. If anything goes wrong, you don’t just lose gas fees—you may even lose funds.In the newer “intent” model, all of this complexity is hidden. You simply tell the driver, “I want to go to the airport and I’m willing to pay 50,” and you don’t worry about the route or which navigation app they use—as long as you arrive. On-chain, that means you sign a single intent such as “I want to swap USDC on chain A for ETH on chain B”, and professional solvers handle the execution.If intents are so powerful, why do we still need the Open Intents Framework (OIF)?In short, today’s intent market is a fragmented “Wild West”: UniswapX has its own intent standard, CowSwap has its own, and Across has another. Solvers have to support dozens of different protocols, and wallets have to integrate dozens of SDKs, which is highly inefficient.OIF aims to end this fragmentation by defining a standardized intent framework for the entire Ethereum ecosystem, providing a shared protocol stack for wallets, bridges, rollups, and market makers and solvers. Led by the Ethereum Foundation together with projects such as Across, Arbitrum, and Hyperlane, OIF is a modular intent stack—not a single protocol, but a set of common interface standards.OIF specifies what an intent looks like, how it is verified, and how it is settled, so that any wallet, any DApp, and any solver can communicate on the same “channel.” It supports multiple intent-based trading modes and lets developers extend them with new patterns such as cross-chain Dutch auctions, order-book matching, and automated arbitrage.2. Why OIF Matters: More Than Just Another Cross-Chain AggregatorYou might be wondering how OIF is different from the cross-chain aggregators you see today.The core difference is standardization. Most cross-chain aggregators today run as closed, end-to-end systems: they define their own intent formats, choose their own bridges and routes, and manage their own risk controls and monitoring. As a result, any wallet or DApp that wants to integrate them has to connect to each aggregator’s API and security assumptions separately.In contrast, OIF works more like a neutral, open standard library. It was designed from the outset as shared infrastructure rather than a proprietary standard: intent data formats, signature schemes, and auction or bidding logic all use common settlement and verification modules. A wallet or DApp only needs to integrate OIF once to connect to multiple backends, bridges, and solvers.Today, leading projects such as Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, ZKsync, and Across—across L2s, bridges, and aggregators—are already on board.The liquidity challenges in today’s Ethereum ecosystem are much more complex than before: L2s are flourishing, liquidity is fragmented, and users are constantly switching networks, bridging assets, and granting approvals. From this angle, OIF is not just about cleaner code—it carries significant commercial and UX value for Web3’s path to mass adoption.For users: “chain abstraction” and intent-driven UXFor users, OIF means you no longer have to think about which chain you’re on. For example, you can initiate a transaction on Optimism with the intent to buy an NFT on Arbitrum. In the past, you would have had to bridge assets, wait for them to arrive, switch networks, and then complete the NFT purchase.Once OIF is integrated, a wallet like imToken can read your intent, generate a standardized order, and let solvers front the funds and complete the purchase on the target chain. You only need to sign once. This is the “chain abstraction” experience, and OIF provides the underlying syntax that makes it possible.For liquidity: breaking silos and enabling global sharingAt the same time, OIF helps break liquidity silos and enable sharing across networks. Today, liquidity on Ethereum L2s is fragmented—for example, Uniswap’s liquidity on Base cannot directly serve users on Arbitrum. With the OIF standard, especially ERC-7683, intent orders can be aggregated into a global shared orderbook.A professional market maker (solver) can monitor demand across all chains and provide liquidity wherever it’s needed. This greatly improves capital efficiency and gives users better prices.For developers and wallets: integrate once, use everywhereFor developers and wallets, OIF means “integrate once, use everywhere.” For teams building wallets or DApps such as imToken, OIF significantly reduces workload: they no longer need to write separate adapters for every bridge or intent protocol.Once they integrate the OIF standard, they can immediately connect to the broader Ethereum intent network and support all solvers that follow the standard.3. Where Is OIF Today?As mentioned above, and according to public information from the Ethereum Foundation, OIF is led by the EF Protocol team together with Across, Arbitrum, Hyperlane, LI.FI, OpenZeppelin, Taiko, and others. More infrastructure providers and wallets are joining the discussions and tests throughout 2025.At the recent Devconnect, many new concepts were in the spotlight, but the OIF “puzzle pieces” have also been steadily falling into place, mainly through standards work and ecosystem collaboration. On the Interop main stage, discussions focused almost all day on intents, interoperability, and account abstraction. OIF appeared repeatedly in talks and slides and was clearly positioned as a key building block for future multi-chain UX.There are not yet large-scale, user-facing applications built on OIF. However, judging from the number of sessions and the participants involved, the community has broadly reached a consensus: in the coming years, high-quality wallets and applications are very likely to build their cross-chain capabilities on public frameworks like OIF.ERC-7683: a concrete outcomeOne example is the often-discussed ERC-7683, one of the most concrete outcomes of OIF so far. Proposed jointly by Uniswap Labs and Across Protocol, ERC-7683 defines a common structure for cross-chain intents.During Devconnect, discussions around ERC-7683 deepened, and more developers, solvers, and market makers began to actively support the standard. This suggests that cross-chain intent trading is shifting from proprietary protocols to shared public infrastructure.OIF + EIL: intent UX plus trust-minimized cross-L2 messagingAnother key thread in the Interop roadmap is the Ethereum Interoperability Layer (EIL). OIF provides the “intent and UX” layer at the top, while EIL provides a trust-minimized messaging layer across L2s at the bottom. Together, they form an important foundation of Ethereum’s future interoperability stack.In this process, the Ethereum Foundation acts as a coordinator rather than a controller. Through documents such as the Protocol Update series, EF has clearly positioned OIF as part of the Initialization phase of the interoperability roadmap. This gives the market strong confidence that intents are not a short-lived narrative, but a long-term evolution path officially recognized by Ethereum.For the Ethereum ecosystem as a whole, OIF is turning “interoperability” from a whitepaper concept into something that can be audited, replicated, and integrated at scale. In the future, when you use a wallet, you may find that you only need to state what you want to do, without worrying about which chain or which bridge to use. When that happens, it will be infrastructure like OIF quietly working in the background.At this point, the “Initialization” piece of the interoperability puzzle is starting to take shape.However, in the EF roadmap, being able to “understand intents” is not enough—the system also needs to run fast and stay stable. In the next article of the Interop series, we’ll look at EIL (the Ethereum Interoperability Layer), a core topic at Devconnect, and explain how Ethereum plans to use the Initialization phase to build a permissionless, censorship-resistant trust channel across L2s so that all rollups can “feel like one chain.”Stay tuned.

The digital economy is reshaping asset classes at unprecedented speed. As Home of Tokens, imToken is building a token-centric ecosystem where assets move with greater efficiency and transparency.From BTC and ETH to NFTs, USDT, and now Real World Assets (RWAs ), imToken has evolved into a one-stop token management tool, driving adoption of tokenization.Embracing the RWA Wave: Stock Tokens on imTokenimToken now supports stock tokens — blockchain-based tokens representing traditional equities. Each is pegged to the price of its underlying stock and is fully backed by equivalent or excess real-world assets.Holders gain economic exposure to the asset’s performance, including price movements and dividend  (net of applicable withholding tax). But stock tokens are not stocks and do not confer any legal rights to own or receive the underlying asset.Key Advantages Self-custody – Your private keys, your control. Stock tokens are 100% self-managed, with zero risk of misappropriation. 24/7 Trading – No market-hour limits. Trade anytime, anywhere. Low Entry Barriers – Buy fractions of shares with minimal capital. DeFi Composability – Future potential to use as collateral or liquidity in DeFi. The stock tokens integrated into imToken this time are provided by Ondo Finance — a globally leading platform specializing in tokenizing Real-World Assets (RWA). Ondo has brought high-quality assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds, money market funds, and corporate bonds onto the blockchain. It collaborates with top international financial institutions like Mastercard and J.P. Morgan, as well as regulated custodians, to ensure robust security and regulatory compliance for tokenized assets.You can now hold and manage stock tokens like AAPL, TSLA, and NVDA directly in imToken — transfer, receive, and manage them anytime, without reliance on traditional finance.Get StartedGet Stock Tokens：https://web.token.im/get-tokenized-stocks

Looking back at 2025, if on-chain scams felt more and more “made for you,” that wasn’t your imagination.As LLMs become widely adopted, social engineering is shifting from clumsy mass blasts to highly personalized targeting. AI can analyze your on-chain and off-chain behavior to generate convincing phishing bait—and even imitate a friend’s tone and speaking style in channels like Telegram.On-chain attacks are entering a truly industrialized phase. If our defenses are still stuck in a “handcrafted era,” security will quickly become a major bottleneck for Web3 adoption.1. Web3 Security Falling Behind: When AI Enters On-Chain AttacksOver the past decade, many Web3 security issues came from code vulnerabilities. But since 2025, attacks have become “industrialized,” while user protections haven’t kept pace.Phishing sites can be mass-generated with scripts, and fake airdrops can be delivered automatically with high precision. Social engineering no longer relies on a hacker’s “con artistry,” but on models, data, and scale.To see how serious this is, look at a simple on-chain swap. From creation to final confirmation, risk can appear at almost every step: Before interacting: You might open a phishing site posing as the official page, or use a DApp front end with a hidden backdoor. During interaction: You might interact with a token contract containing backdoor logic, or the counterparty may be a flagged phishing address. When approving: You may be tricked into signing something that looks harmless but gives infinite approval. After submission: Even if every step seems correct, MEV bots can target the mempool and capture value via sandwich attacks. And it isn’t limited to swaps. Transfers, staking, minting—almost any action can be attacked somewhere along the chain of creation, validation, broadcast, inclusion, and confirmation. One weak link can turn a “safe” transaction into a loss.Under today’s account model, strong private key protection can’t undo a single wrong click. Even well-designed protocols can be bypassed by a malicious approval. And even decentralized systems are often defeated by human error. If attacks are automated and intelligent, while defenses still rely on manual judgment, security becomes the bottleneck (see also: “The $3.35B “Account Tax”: When EOA Becomes a Systemic Cost, What Can AA Offer?”).Ultimately, most users still lack an end-to-end solution that protects the full transaction lifecycle. AI could help build consumer-grade security that runs 24/7 to help safeguard user assets.2. What Can AI × Web3 Do?In theory, how could AI and Web3 work together to reshape on-chain security in this asymmetric fight?For most users, the biggest risks aren’t protocol bugs—they’re social engineering and malicious approvals. Here, AI can act as a 24/7 security assistant.For example, AI can use NLP to spot high-risk scam language in social posts and private chats:If you receive a “free airdrop” link, an AI assistant could do more than check a URL blacklist. It can also review the project’s social activity, the domain’s age, and on-chain fund flows. If the link leads to a newly deployed contract with no incoming funds, it can splash a giant red X on screen.Malicious approvals are one of the leading causes of wallet draining today. Hackers often trick users into signing messages that look harmless but grant unlimited spending permission.When you’re about to sign, AI can simulate the transaction in the background and show the outcome in plain language—e.g., “If you proceed, all ETH in your wallet will be sent to Address A.” Turning opaque code into clear consequences is one of the strongest defenses against malicious approvals.On the protocol and product side, AI can help move security from static, periodic audits to real-time defense. Traditional audits are often manual and lag behind new threats.AI is now being embedded into real-time security workflows. Compared with traditional audits that can take weeks, AI-assisted tools—such as smart contract scanners—can analyze tens of thousands of lines of code in seconds.Building on this, AI can simulate large numbers of edge-case scenarios and catch subtle logic traps—like reentrancy—before deployment. Even if a backdoor slips in, AI can warn teams before funds are exploited.Tools like GoPlus also aim to stop risky transactions before they succeed. For example, GoPlus SecNet lets users configure an on-chain “firewall” via an RPC security network that checks transactions in real time. It can proactively block risky actions—such as transfers, approvals, honeypot token buys, and MEV-related risks—by evaluating the address and asset before the transaction is sent.The author also supports GPT-style services—for example, a 24/7 on-chain security assistant for beginners that can answer day-to-day questions and provide quick guidance during security incidents.The real value isn’t “being 100% correct,” but helping users spot risk earlier—during a transaction, or even before it starts.3. Where Are the Limits of AI × Web3?We should stay cautiously optimistic. Even as AI × Web3 unlocks new possibilities—especially in security—we need to stay grounded and clear-eyed.AI is still just a tool. It shouldn’t replace user control, it can’t custody assets on your behalf, and it can’t “block every attack.” The right goal is to reduce the cost of human mistakes—without compromising decentralization.AI is powerful—but not all-powerful. Real security comes from AI’s strengths, informed users, and well-designed tools working together—not from betting everything on one model.Just as Ethereum continues to prioritize decentralization, AI should remain an assistive layer—helping people make fewer mistakes, not making decisions for them.Looking back, Web3 security has evolved: early on, it was “protect your seed phrase.” Later, it became “avoid suspicious links and revoke unused approvals.” Today, security is becoming continuous, dynamic, and increasingly intelligent.AI doesn’t weaken decentralization—it can make decentralized systems easier for everyday users to stick with. By handling complex risk analysis in the background and surfacing clear prompts, it turns security from an extra burden into a built-in default.This echoes the author’s recurring view: AI and Web3/Crypto form a kind of mirror—new “productivity” meeting new “systems of trust” (see also: “When Web3 Meets d/acc: What Can Crypto Do in an Age of Accelerating Technology?”).If AI is an evolving spear—boosting efficiency, but also enabling attacks at scale—then crypto’s decentralized systems must evolve as a matching shield. From a d/acc perspective, the goal isn’t perfect safety, but resilience: even in worst cases, the system remains trustworthy, and users still have room to exit and recover.Final NotesWeb3’s ultimate goal isn’t to make users learn more tech—it’s to let technology protect users quietly in the background.When attackers are already using AI, refusing to adopt smarter defenses becomes a risk in itself. Protecting assets is a long game with no finish line—and users who know how to use AI to strengthen their own defenses will be much harder to compromise.The value of AI × Web3 may be this: not “absolute security,” but security that can be delivered consistently and at scale. 

2026 is set to be a pivotal year for Ethereum’s mass adoption.With several 2025 base-layer upgrades now in place, and the Interop roadmap becoming clearer and moving forward, Ethereum is entering an era of large-scale interoperability. Against this backdrop, EIL (Ethereum Interoperability Layer) is moving from behind the scenes to the forefront. (Further reading: Ethereum Interop Roadmap: Solving the Last Mile to Mass Adoption.)If early discussions mostly stayed at the proof-of-concept stage, EIL is now moving into the harder phase: standardization and engineering implementation. That shift has sparked major community debate—for example, as we pursue Web2-smooth cross-chain UX, are we quietly changing Ethereum’s long-held trust boundaries?In practice, turning any technical vision into production inevitably involves trade-offs between efficiency and security. This article looks past slogans and, through EIL’s concrete design details, examines its real choices across efficiency, standardization, and security assumptions.1. What exactly is EIL “stitching together”?First, let’s clarify what EIL is—and isn’t. It’s neither a new chain nor a new consensus layer. It’s a communication framework and a suite of interoperability standards.Put simply: without rewriting Ethereum’s security model, EIL standardizes L2 state proofs and messaging so different L2s can achieve single-chain-like composability—without changing their own security assumptions. (Further reading: Ending L2 Islands: How EIL Rebuilds L2s into One “Supercomputer”.)Today, many Ethereum L2s operate like isolated islands. For example, your account (EOA) on Optimism and on Arbitrum may share the same address, yet their states remain fully separated: Signature isolation: a signature on chain A can’t be directly verified on chain B. Asset isolation: assets on chain A aren’t visible on chain B. Interaction friction: cross-chain actions often mean repeated approvals, acquiring destination-chain gas, waiting for settlement, and more. EIL combines Account Abstraction (ERC-4337) with a trust-minimized messaging layer to create a unified execution environment across the account layer and messaging layer—aiming to remove these human-made splits.Here’s a simple analogy: traditional cross-chain feels like traveling abroad—you exchange currency (bridge assets), re-authorize (like applying for visas), and buy destination-chain gas (like learning local rules). In an EIL world, cross-chain could feel more like paying with a Visa card worldwide:Wherever you are, you sign once. The underlying network (EIL) handles exchange rates, settlement, and verification—so you barely notice borders.Compared with bridges/relayers and Intent/Solver models: Native paths are safest and most transparent, but slow and fragmented; Intent paths feel best, but introduce Solver trust and incentive games; EIL aims for Intent-like UX without relying on Solvers—at the cost of deeper wallet/protocol integration.Comparison: EIL vs. Intent vs. Native Cross-ChainSource: Adapted from @MarcinM02; diagram recreated by the author.The Ethereum Foundation’s Account Abstraction team envisions a future where users complete cross-chain transactions with a single signature—without relying on centralized relays or adding new trust assumptions—initiated from the wallet and settled seamlessly across L2s.2. EIL’s engineering path: Account Abstraction + a trust-minimized messaging layerA more practical question follows: can EIL’s implementation and ecosystem adoption truly translate theory into practice? That remains an open question.EIL doesn’t introduce a brand-new inter-chain consensus layer. Instead, it builds on two existing building blocks: (1) ERC-4337 Account Abstraction (AA) and (2) a trust-minimized cross-chain messaging and liquidity mechanism.2.1 ERC-4337 Account Abstraction: turning the account into programmable executionERC-4337 Account Abstraction lets accounts be smart-contract accounts with customizable validation and execution logic, rather than being limited to the traditional EOA key-controlled model.For EIL, this means cross-chain actions don’t have to rely on an external executor (a Solver). Instead, they can be expressed as a standardized UserOp, constructed and managed by the wallet.This is hard to achieve with EOAs without complex contract wrappers. With ERC-4337, the account becomes programmable—so a single signature (a UserOp) can express cross-chain intent. (Further reading: From EOA to AA: Will Web3’s Next Leap Happen at the Account Layer?) Account contracts can embed richer validation/execution rules: one signature can trigger a sequence of cross-chain instructions. With Paymaster and related mechanisms, you can even enable gas abstraction—for example, paying destination-chain fees using source-chain assets, instead of buying a small amount of the destination chain’s native gas token first. That’s why EIL is so closely tied to wallet UX: it aims to reshape the user’s “entry point” for interacting across multiple chains.2.2 Trust-minimized messaging via XLP: making cross-chain fastThe second piece is a trust-minimized messaging approach built around XLP (cross-chain liquidity providers), designed to improve cross-chain efficiency.Traditional cross-chain flows often rely on relayers or centralized bridges. EIL introduces XLPs to enable a path that is fast in the common case—while aiming to preserve security. The user submits a cross-chain transaction on the source chain. An XLP spots the intent in the mempool and fronts funds/gas on the destination chain, issuing a voucher. The user uses the voucher to execute on the destination chain. To the user, it can feel near-instant—without waiting for slow canonical-bridge settlement.But what if an XLP defaults? EIL’s key mechanism is permissionless slashing: the user can submit proof on Ethereum L1 to slash the XLP’s staked collateral.The official (canonical) bridge is mainly used for post-default settlement and recovery. In normal conditions the system runs fast; in extreme cases, Ethereum L1 still backstops security.This design moves the slow, expensive security path out of the default flow, concentrating the “trust burden” in failure handling.And that’s a core controversy: if security depends on how executable the failure path is—and how effective economic penalties are—does EIL truly add no new trust assumptions, or does it relocate trust into less visible engineering and economic conditions?This sets up the key question: elegant in theory, what centralization risks and economic frictions could emerge in practice—and why does the community stay cautious?3. Between vision and reality: Is EIL really “minimizing trust”?By this point, EIL’s ambition is clear: avoid explicit relay trust, and reduce cross-chain UX to a single wallet signature—one UserOp.But trust doesn’t disappear—it shifts.That’s why risk-focused platforms such as L2BEAT are cautious about EIL in production: if an interoperability layer becomes the default path, hidden assumptions, incentive failures, or single points of failure in governance can scale into systemic risk.More specifically, EIL’s speed comes from (1) AA packaging actions into one signature, and (2) XLP pre-funding so users don’t wait. The second shifts some security from immediately verifiable finality to recoverability backed by economic collateral.That pushes risk into several engineering-heavy questions: In volatile markets, how are XLP default risk, funding costs, and hedging priced? Is slashing timely and enforceable enough—and can it cover losses in extreme cases? As transfers grow larger and paths get more complex (multi-hop/multi-chain), do failure cases become dramatically harder to resolve? Ultimately, the trust anchor here is less about pure mathematical guarantees and more about staked collateral. If the cost to attack is lower than the potential gain, the system still faces meaningful risk.Also, while EIL tries to address liquidity fragmentation via technical design, liquidity is still driven by incentives. If costs and trust differ materially across chains, a messaging standard alone can’t make liquidity move. A protocol standard can’t solve the economic reality of “liquidity doesn’t want to move.”Without supporting incentive design, EIL could end up with standardized “pipes” but too few participants willing to provide execution and liquidity because the economics don’t work.Overall, EIL is one of the most important infrastructure ideas proposed to address fragmented L2 UX. It aims to simplify UX while preserving Ethereum’s core values—self-custody, censorship resistance, and fewer intermediaries—and that’s worth recognizing. (Further reading: Cutting Through the “Ethereum in Decline” Noise: Why Values Are Its Strongest Moat)For most users, there’s no need to rush to praise or dismiss EIL. What matters is understanding its trade-offs and boundary assumptions.EIL isn’t just an incremental upgrade to today’s cross-chain pain points. It’s a deeper attempt to integrate UX, economics, and security trust boundaries—and it could either move Ethereum toward truly seamless interoperability or surface new frictions and trade-offs in implementation.Closing thoughtsAs of 2026, EIL isn’t a plug-and-play final answer. It’s more like a systematic stress test of trust boundaries, engineering feasibility, and the limits of user experience.If it succeeds, Ethereum’s L2 world may finally feel like a single chain. If it falls short, it should still leave clear lessons for the next generation of interoperability design.Even in 2026, everything is still experimental.And that may be the most real—and most worth respecting—thing about Ethereum.

Recently, if you’ve been following the Ethereum ecosystem closely, you may have felt a real sense of disconnect.On one side are intense technical discussions—scaling roadmaps, Rollup architecture, Interop, ZK, PBS, shorter slots, and more.On the other are arguments like “Is the Ethereum Foundation arrogant?”, “Why isn’t Ethereum more aggressive?”, and “Why is the price so weak?”—sometimes turning into emotional, polarized clashes.Ultimately, these debates all point back to one deeper question: What kind of system does Ethereum want to become?Many disputes aren’t really about technical details—they stem from different understandings of Ethereum’s underlying values and assumptions. To understand why Ethereum makes choices some see as “out of sync,” we need to revisit those first principles.1) Ethereum’s “ten-year itch”: Is Ethereum in decline?The Ethereum community has been anything but calm lately.From reassessing the Rollup-centric roadmap, to debating what “Ethereum Alignment” really means, to constant comparisons with high-performance chains—a quiet but steadily intensifying anxiety is spreading through the community.It’s easy to see why.While other chains keep setting new benchmarks—TPS, TVL, trending narratives, latency, UX—Ethereum keeps circling back to architecture splits, execution offloading, Interop, and finality. It feels neither intuitive nor crowd-pleasing.Which raises a sharper question: Is Ethereum “in decline”?To answer that, we can’t judge by the past one or two years alone. We need to zoom out—to what Ethereum has consistently held onto over the last decade.In recent years, many newer high-performance chains have taken a more direct path: fewer nodes, higher hardware requirements, and centralized ordering/execution—in exchange for peak performance and a smoother experience.In the Ethereum community’s view, that kind of speed often comes at the cost of antifragility.Here’s a widely overlooked but telling fact: over nearly ten years, Ethereum has never had a network-wide outage or rollback—and it has run continuously, 24/7/365.That isn’t because Ethereum is “luckier” than Solana, Sui, and others—it’s because, from day one, it prioritized worst-case survivability over raw performance.In other words, Ethereum looks slow today not because it can’t be faster, but because it keeps asking a harder question: when the network is larger, participants are more diverse, and conditions are more hostile, can the system still keep functioning?From this perspective, the “ten-year itch” isn’t decline—it’s Ethereum choosing short-term discomfort and criticism to stay viable for the long haul.2) Understanding “Ethereum Alignment”: Not taking sides, but defining boundariesThat’s why the first step to understanding Ethereum is accepting an inconvenient but crucial truth: Ethereum isn’t built solely to maximize efficiency. Its core goal isn’t to be the fastest—it’s to remain trustworthy even in worst-case conditions.So in Ethereum’s context, many “technical” debates are really value choices: should we trade decentralization for speed? introduce highly privileged nodes for throughput? or hand security assumptions to a small group for better UX?Ethereum’s answer is usually no.This also explains the community’s near-instinctive caution about shortcuts: “Can we do it?” always comes after “Should we do it?”Against this backdrop, “Ethereum Alignment” has become one of the most contested ideas. Some worry it could turn into a moral litmus test—or even a tool for rent-seeking.This concern isn’t unfounded. In September 2024, Vitalik Buterin called out the risk directly in Making Ethereum Alignment Legible:if alignment means having the right friends, then "alignment" as a concept has failed.Vitalik’s solution wasn’t to abandon alignment, but to make it clearer and easier to break down and debate. In his view, alignment shouldn’t be a vague political stance; it should be a set of concrete, inspectable attributes: Technical alignment: Do you build on Ethereum’s security model and consensus? Do you support open source and open standards? Economic alignment: Over the long term, do you strengthen ETH’s value capture—rather than extracting value without giving back? Ethos alignment: Are you pursuing public benefit, rather than purely extractive growth? From this angle, alignment isn’t a loyalty test—it’s a mutually beneficial social contract.The Ethereum ecosystem can tolerate chaos, competition, and even fierce rivalry among L2s—but ultimately, that activity should flow back to the base layer that provides security, consensus, and settlement.3) Re-examining “decentralization” and “censorship resistance”If alignment sets the value boundaries, then two long-held pillars make those boundaries real: decentralization and censorship resistance.In Ethereum’s context, decentralization doesn’t mean “more nodes is always better,” or that everyone must run a node. It means the system can function normally even if you don’t trust any single participant.This means the protocol shouldn’t rely on any single sequencer, coordinator, or company. It also means running a node can’t become so costly that only institutions can do it—ordinary users still need to be able to verify the system is following the rules.That’s why Ethereum has long kept hardware requirements, bandwidth needs, and state bloat in check—even if it slows short-term performance (Further reading, ZK Dawn: Is Ethereum’s Endgame Accelerating？”).In Ethereum’s view, a system that’s blazing fast but can’t be verified by ordinary users has effectively lost what it means to be permissionless.Another frequently misunderstood value is censorship resistance.Ethereum doesn’t assume a friendly world. From the start, it assumes participants may be profit-driven, power may concentrate, and outside pressure will arise. So censorship resistance isn’t “no one will ever censor”—it’s ensuring the system still works even if someone tries.That’s why Ethereum emphasizes proposer/builder separation, decentralized block building, and incentive-driven mechanism design—not because they’re “elegant,” but because they keep working under worst-case conditions.People often ask: “Will things ever really get that extreme?”Put simply: if a system is only safe in an ideal world, it isn’t worth entrusting with real value.One more data point: Ethereum’s PoS exit queue is nearly cleared, while the entry queue keeps growing—now over 1.57 million ETH.Even amid controversy and doubt, a large amount of ETH is still being locked into the system long term.That may say more than any statement ever could.In closingCritics often say Ethereum is “still debating philosophy while others are already shipping.”But seen differently, those debates are exactly what keeps Ethereum from repeatedly tearing everything down and rebuilding. The Rollup-centric roadmap, gradual ZK adoption, Interop, faster confirmations, shorter slots—all of it is pursued under one shared premise:Every performance improvement must fit within Ethereum’s existing security and value assumptions.That’s why Ethereum’s evolution can look “conservative on the surface, but resilient underneath.” It’s not anti-efficiency—it simply refuses to trade future systemic risk for short-term gains today.And that spirit is what has carried Ethereum through a decade. In an era that worships “efficiency / TVL above all,” it may be one of the scarcest—and most worth protecting—things in Web3.