Intention The starting point of Web3 interactive intelligence

Web3 interactive intelligence starts with intention

This article will combine Anoma and TG Bot to open up the understanding of intent, and trace the AI paradigm transfer behind intent, deepening the understanding of the evolution, interaction paradigm, current situation, and trends of intent concepts, and finally looking forward to the challenges and future of Web3 interactive intelligence.

Abstract

‍‍‍‍‍(1) Understanding Intent: Top-down Anoma vs. bottom-up TG Bot

(2) Delving into Intent: AI is the New UI: Complex Commands vs. Simple Intent

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(3) Navigating Intent: Evolution, interaction paradigm, current situation, and trends of Intent

(4) Guiding Intent: Challenges and prospects of Web3 interactive intelligence

In June, LianGuairadigm website published an article titled “Intent-Based Architectures and Their Risks”, which brought the concept of Intent to the public for the first time. The development of protocols and infrastructure related to intent has been rapid, and it has become a topic that cannot be bypassed in the crypto world at the ETHCC conference in July.

Intent is not a new concept, as Mindao, the founder of DForce, said: “The trend in the currency circle has always been to abstract and automate operations to the extreme. Aggregators, CEX, contract wallets, cross-chain DeFi, and even Chainlink and recent automation middleware, as well as recent Telegram bots, are all doing this work.”

However, intent brings about new changes. In the past, product interaction was the core, and in the AGI era, human-computer interaction became the core. AI/LLM (large language models) holds the potential to enhance Crypo interaction.

Top-down Anoma and bottom-up Unibot

In the past half year, protocols, projects, and infrastructure related to intent have been booming. Here, we don’t intend to explain the concepts in a textbook manner. Instead, we bring two excellent examples to give a glimpse of the situation.

Among the projects related to intent, the most dazzling one is the Anoma Foundation, which completed the third round of financing with a total of $25 million at the end of May 2023. In the context of homogenization in Layer1, Anoma Foundation, with its intent-centric architecture Anoma (Dapp full-stack architecture) and Namada (privacy Layer1), has received a total of $57.8 million in investment from institutions, ranking 7th in terms of financing amount among Layer1/Layer2 projects that have not yet launched their coins.

Looking back at Anoma’s public speech at EthCC, founder Adrian Brink said that the magic of Anoma lies in the fact that all interactions start with intent. User-expressed intent is processed through the Black-box Architecture of Anoma (also known as the Magic Happens box), which implements the core transaction process based on intent interaction:

• User Interaction: Users can send transparent, private, or protected intents to Anoma’s Black-box Architecture (intent gossip Layer).

• Intent Collection and Matching: The solver (parser) of Anoma’s Black-box Architecture collects intents, performs balanced state transitions, and matches transaction partners.

• Transaction Processing: The matched transactions are submitted to the encrypted mempool, and validators send the proposer’s packaged blocks to the execution layer for execution and validation, ultimately completing the state root update.

Source: https://twitter.com/Delphi_Digital/status/1696626180752056764

Behind the new interactive form, the Anoma team has identified the pain points of the underlying blockchain protocol, and reviewed that from the first generation of Bitcoin’s scriptable settlement, the second generation of Ethereum’s programmable settlement architecture has resulted in current application protocols having at least one Web2 component, which prevents transaction counterparties from discovering and resolving issues. It is stated that the intent-centric Anoma architecture is the third-generation Dapp architecture of blockchain protocol evolution, allowing users to define the desired result state and achieve efficient and customizable privacy transactions at the intent level. The intent-centric Dapp architecture will usher in a new era.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdYwfW6tMJ8

Anoma, with high financing and a new technological architecture, is currently being built by a team of 37 interdisciplinary members from Heliax. Although the Heliax development team has made slow progress over the past 2 years, it has formed a complete innovative ecosystem:

• Anoma: An intent-centric general Dapp architecture that can be modularly deployed to L1, L1.5, and L2, and can be called by modular components embedded in various EVM frameworks;

• Namada: Anoma’s privacy settlement Layer1, which uses PoS mechanism and is used for asset-independent cross-chain privacy, and will be compatible with Ethereum and IBC chains in the future;

• AnomaVM: Simplifies DApp application development on Anoma, using Juvix (an intent-centric programming language) and VampIR (a circuit programming language);

• Typhon: An improved Typhon consensus based on Cosmos’ Tendermint;

• Taiga: Provides a composable privacy-preserving execution environment. Taiga defines three types of intents: transparent intents, masked intents, and private intents.

Source: https://heliax.dev/#projects

Although many institutions such as CMCC Global, Electric Capital, and Delphi Digital are highly supportive of Anoma and express unlimited potential for intent-centric architecture, the current top-down approach of Anoma has only laid a solid technical foundation but lacks exciting real-world applications. On the other hand, TG Bot opens up imagination for on-chain automated trading tools in specific intent scenarios.

Unibot is a Telegram-based trading bot (TG Bot) that allows users to automate DEX trading through Telegram. It provides functions such as sniper buying, copy trading, DEX limit orders, privacy, and anti-MEV. Unibot replaces the cumbersome interaction of Uniswap with Intent, providing a convenient DeFi interaction experience. Unibot has also spawned a number of TG Bot clone projects, and the total market value of the TG Bot field has now reached nearly $200 million.

Anoma, a top-down approach, is innovative, while TG Bot, a bottom-up approach, is transformative. Anoma starts from a intent-based underlying architecture, but the team’s progress is slow. TG Bot brings users a new on-chain interactive interface, but it is not intelligent and has many security risks.

These two different approaches have the same goal – to simplify the user interaction experience and introduce a new programmable and customizable user interface – the User Intent Layer, allowing users to skip complex on-chain interactions and define transaction states based on user intent.

AI is the New UI: Command Interaction vs. Intent Interaction

The two use cases above have given a basic understanding of intent. Now it’s time to explore the underlying change in the cryptographic world – the change in user interaction interface.

The AI paradigm is introducing the third user interface paradigm in the history of computing, shifting to a new interaction mechanism where users tell computers what they want, rather than how to do it.

• Paradigm 1: Batch processing.

• Paradigm 2: Command-based interaction design.

• Paradigm 3: Result specification based on intent.

Every revolution in interaction patterns in history has produced new business models. The generative AI based on LLM has brought disruptive changes to human-computer interaction, directly transforming the interaction with various software UIs into interaction with Chatgpt chat windows. This is an unprecedented interactive experience. LLM+crypto also brings a new proposition of intent-based interaction to the cryptographic world. LLM will discover and describe user intent, making blockchain interaction potentially more intelligent.

Concept Evolution, Interaction Paradigms, Current Situation, and Trends of Intent

After a deep understanding of the AI intelligence trend behind intent, we further explore the concept evolution of intent. Intent is not a new concept, but has existed since the Web2 era. With the rise of search engines like Google, users can input intent and search engines provide related search results to fulfill that intent.

With the rise of e-commerce platforms like Amazon and eBay, the architecture based on intent has undergone a major transformation. Users can now express their intent to purchase products, and the platform takes care of logistics. In early 2017, Gartner published a report titled “Innovation Insight: Intent-Based Networking Systems,” officially proposing the concept of Intent-based Networking. The key to intent-based networking is to present users with an interface where they only need to express what they want, and the platform handles the business details.

Intent-based networking is the development trend of network automation and intelligence in the Web2 era. Andrew Lerner, Vice President of Gartner Research, pointed out in 2017 that intent-based networking will be the next milestone in the network field.

Source: https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3599617

Evolution from Web2 to Web3, the concept of intent in Web3 is not clear, but there are some consensuses:

• Definition given by LianGuairadigm: Intent is a set of declarative constraints that allow users to delegate transaction creation to specialized third-party participant networks while retaining complete control over the process.

• Definition given by Anoma, the underlying Dapp architecture: Intent is a message sent by the user to express custom preferences. Intent is a constraint defined by the user on what the system can do, rather than a specific execution path.

• Definition given by Propellerheads, the intent-based transaction infrastructure: Intent refers to the part of a transaction that requires assistance from others. By outsourcing the difficult part of the transaction to a third party, intent simplifies complex transactions.

In real use cases of intent-based transactions in Web3, users create intents off-chain and outsource them to solvers (interpreters) off-chain. Solvers encapsulate the complexity of blockchain interaction, while users retain complete control over the process on-chain, reducing the threshold for on-chain interaction.

Source: https://www.brink.trade/blog/powerful-intents-LianGuairt-1

Intent also brings the concept of LLM architecture—intent-centric architecture—architecture centered around user intent. Currently, intent-centric cryptographic protocols and infrastructures are embedded in the interaction layer between users and crypto, leveraging LLM to provide a better on-chain interaction experience.

LLM+Crypto brings a new paradigm of human-computer interaction, allowing user intents to be directly converted into smart contract calls. Users only need to express their intent like using Apple’s Siri, and robots/AI agents/third-party solvers help complete complex on-chain operations. In the future, intent-based Web3 interaction can greatly reduce the complexity of on-chain interaction for users.

AI is the New UI. More and more Web3 projects are exploring the power of intent. Whether it is intent-based dApps or intent-based underlying architectures, they unleash the potential of intent from different perspectives. We attempt to categorize this rapidly developing field and track the latest trends and developments from an interaction perspective:

Infrastructure: (Intent-centric intent architecture layer)

• DappOS: The first intent-centric Web3 operation protocol that builds an intermediate layer between users and encryption infrastructures such as public chains, cross-chain bridges, etc., enabling seamless and imperceptible interaction for Web3 users. DappOS recently released version 2;

• Flash 2.0 SUAVE: SUAVE is an independent plug-and-play modular MEV full-chain ordering layer. Preferences (the core concept of SUAVE) is similar to the concept of intent, both providing a way for ordinary users to customize transactions and ultimately helping users achieve optimal execution. Flashbots plans to launch SUAVE Centauri in Q4 2023;

• Anoma: An intent-centric universal Dapp architecture that can be modularly deployed to L1, L1.5, and L2, and called in various EVM frameworks with modular components embedded. The latest development in the Anoma ecosystem is Anoma’s privacy settlement Layer1—Namada is about to exit v0.22.0 testnet;

• Cow Protocol: CoW Protocol builds a underlying settlement network for traders and solvers and released the new intent system Cow Hooks in July to achieve custom DeFi operations. The latest data in August shows that CoW Protocol processed a total transaction volume of 1.05 billion and generated 5.3 million in profits.

Supporting Facilities: (Supporting infrastructure related to intent, and account abstract wallet)

• ERC 4337: User Operation in ERC 4337 is the intent of the user, including the token used to pay gas, payment options, login methods, replacing the current transaction memory pool, thus achieving account abstraction and improving wallet interaction experience.

• Supporting facilities related to account abstraction: Packaging infrastructure (StackUp, Blocknative, Alchemy Rundler, AA-Bundler, infinitism Bundler), wallet SDK (Safe, ZeroDev, Biconomy);

• Supporting facilities related to intent: Juvix (intent-based programming language), Seaport (open-source NFT trading protocol), Gelato (Web3 automated execution layer providing automated services for smart contracts), okcontract (low-level intent automation tool), Delegatable (smart contract authorization proxy tool), Hyper Oracle (off-chain automation service), symmio (intent-based on-chain derivatives trading framework).

Enterprise Applications: (Infrastructure for integrating Dapps, API, modular intent layer, domain-specific parsers)

• Transaction parser API: PropelleHeads;

• Intent API: EnsoFinance;

• Intent transaction infrastructure: Bob the Solver, Brink;

• Composable intent tool: Essential.

Consumer Applications: (Intelligent interfaces for user interaction such as Wallets, Dex, Web3 Ai Agents, intelligent search engines)

• Wallets: Safe, Bitconomy, Argent, Ambire, Sequence, Versa, A3SProtocol;

• Dex: CowSwap, LianGuairaswap, Uniswap, 1inch, BananaHq, basedmarkets;

• Intelligent front-end: Unibot, Dora, Web3 Analytics, kaito.ai.

Based on intent architecture, supporting facilities, and enterprise-side applications (due to space limitations, only listed here without elaboration), it attempts to address the underlying challenges of intent-based implementation. However, infrastructure cannot be built overnight, and the trend of intent consumer applications is what truly excites people. The evolution of interaction entry points such as wallets and Dex demonstrates the potential for intelligent interaction.

Wallet Intelligence: ERC-4337 introduces a new layer of user intent (UserOps), where users express their intent, and then the bundler (Bundler) converts these intents into executable signed transactions. In recent months, the number of ERC4337 users has increased significantly. ZeroDev, Biconomy, and Safe modular intelligent accounts are the most motivated to promote AA+intent. AA+intent has the potential to promote the advent of wallet intelligence (SCW).

Source: https://dune.com/niftytable/account-abstraction

DEX Architecture Transformation: Intent-based trading aims to improve capital efficiency and user interaction experience. CoW Hooks connects complex actions such as trading, bridging, staking, and deposits. UniswapX already allows users to sign intents for off-chain matching and on-chain settlement. Similar to BananaHq, Brink, basedmarkets, etc., more DEX based on intent are gradually emerging. The new Intent-based RFQ narrative (SYMMIO) is unfolding. With more and more DEX and aggregators transitioning to intent-based architecture, the DEX landscape is undergoing tremendous changes.

Source: https://twitter.com/BananaHQio/status/1694013407929020740

Intelligentization of Interactive Entry: Similar to the transformation of TG Bot for Web3 front-end interactive interface, the interactive entry focuses on understanding the user’s intention and systematically converts it into automated, actionable tasks. It is not only TG Bot-like trading robots, but also Web3 Ai Agents and Web3 intelligent search engines that are making Web3 interaction more intelligent.

Source: https://twitter.com/awasunyin/status/169540582237605496

Challenges and Prospects of Intelligentization of Web3 Interaction

In the past, the user experience of Web3 products has indeed hindered widespread adoption, and the wealth effect of on-chain transactions has concealed many product issues. Now liquidity and user attention are both divided, and on-chain liquidity is scarce.

At the ETHCC conference in July, developers had extensive discussions about the future of intent-centric, and how to help users complete DAPP interaction more intelligently in Web3. However, intent-centric still faces many challenges in its application:

• Lack of intent-related programming languages (similar to Juvix)

• Lack of suitable intent architecture (similar to Anoma)

• Lack of domain-specific solvers (similar to Bob The Solver)

• Centralized and closed intent implementation (similar to CowSwap)

• Lack of front-end intent recognition parsers (similar to Unibot)

• Lack of composable intent implementations (similar to Brink)

• Intent security risks (mentioned in the LianGuairadigm article)

There are challenges, but also hope. With the emergence of intent-centric protocols, Web3 has the potential to evolve into a more user-friendly intelligent interaction interface. Users can interact with mainstream applications such as Uniswap, Blur, and AAVE in a one-stop manner, and the interaction is as simple as booking a ride with Uber. This is the real opportunity for Web3 Dapps to surpass Web2 in terms of user experience.

What’s more important is to combine Anoma, Flashbots SUAVE, and DappOS to envision the future of intent-centric. On-chain interactions in Web3 will also become more intelligent, customizable, fair. By centering on intent, the power of discourse will be placed back in the hands of users. Ordinary users can also arm third-party robots/parsers to complete customized transactions (transaction fees, slippage, privacy, cross-chain, MEV, or other intents). In the future, users will no longer be passive participants on the chain, nor will they be exploited by MEV Searchers and Validators, but they will be the true masters of on-chain activities.

Looking forward to the future of intelligent Web3 interaction, whether it is account abstraction, chain abstraction, or intent, Web3 finally cares about user experience, and the dawn of intelligent interaction is about to illuminate the dark forest.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Web3 Analytics, Crypto V, Haotian, Chen Jian Jason, Luke, Grace Deng, SixSix.eth, POOR DAO, #017, armonio.eth, and Kiwibig.eth for their valuable discussions, opinions, and feedback on this article.

Reference

最近很多文章分析，确实没看明白叙事的核心是什么。如果是在聊一个现象，那确实币圈历来的趋势都是极致地把操作全部抽象和自动化，从聚合器、CEX、合约钱包、跨链defi其实都在做这些工作，还有chainlink和最近的自动化中间件，还有最近telegram bot。似乎不需要IC来描述这一现象。

— Mindao (@mindaoyang) August 30, 2023

WTF are Intents?

If you’re wondering what the newest buzzword “intents” are, look no further.

There's no better way to understand intents than by starting with @anoma, an intent-centric architecture that has been in stealth development for years ⬇️🧵 pic.twitter.com/GBSJ27RqQT

— Delphi Digital (@Delphi_Digital) August 29, 2023

https://twitter.com/awasunyin/status/169540582237605496

Intents that get settled on chain are everywhere already. If you've ever traded on @1inch, @0xProject, @CoWSwap, @opensea, @blur_io, or used an app powered by @gelatonetwork your signed messages are being processed by off chain solvers and settled on chain pic.twitter.com/OBFcxRuTXw

— ren (wassie arc) (@0xren_cf) June 1, 2023

12/ RFQ/limit orders are specific types of intents orders that are typically sent to a gated pool of market makers and solvers selected by the dapp to prevent value leakage.

The graph shared by @sui414 provides an excellent summary of the current order flow lifecycle. https://t.co/Ec9Zg2RwBv pic.twitter.com/1qn51bIl2K

— 𝔏𝔲𝔨𝔢🥝 (@LukeWasm) August 15, 2023

8⃣@_sailexchange is an intent-based orderbook dex on @fuel_network with no further information.

21/

— Dr.DODO｜TOKEN2049🇸🇬 (@DodoResearch) August 24, 2023

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https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3599617

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