No More FOMO: Router Lets You “DeFi Your Way” with its Intent Framework

The blockchain world is abuzz with intent-driven solutions like Anoma and Suave. Their ambition to reshape the future of DeFi operations through user-focused intents holds immense promise. But as with any pioneering venture, questions linger about real-world applicability and integration into existing ecosystems. Let’s untangle the strands of this conversation by understanding the importance of intents, analyzing the Intent-driven frameworks being built by Anoma and Suave and finally exploring how their current forms pose challenges for seamless integration with established DeFi landscapes.

What is an Intent?

In general terms, an intent signifies an individual’s purpose or objective. In the context of blockchain technology, the user’s intent reflects their intended result when interacting with blockchain networks and decentralized applications (dApps). This includes actions such as executing trades, staking tokens, or transferring assets.

Why is Intent-driven DeFi a Requirement?

Even now, the intricate nature of blockchain interactions necessitates users to have a nuanced understanding of underlying protocols and procedures. This complexity is a deterrent to mainstream adoption. Furthermore, new developers often find it challenging to build applications due to the complexities involved. There is a dire need for a high-level abstraction to simplify user interactions and provide a conducive environment for developers to build applications seamlessly. To this end, the concept of intent-based DeFi abstracts the intricate technical procedures underpinning dApp interactions and focuses on achieving the user’s desired end result.

Anoma’s Intent-centric Architecture

Anoma is a blockchain protocol that emphasizes “humanized programmable settlement”. Their focus is on creating an intent-driven architecture that focuses on user desires as the driving force of transactions, mainly for trading and transfers.

• Intent Creation: Using the Anoma protocol, users can express their trading desires as intents. For instance, a user might indicate an intent to sell a certain amount of cryptocurrency at a specific price.
• Counterparty Matching: For each intent on Anoma, there ideally needs to be a corresponding counter-intent that matches the original intent’s requirements. For example, if someone intends to sell Bitcoin, there needs to be another user intending to buy Bitcoin at the matching price and quantity.

Potential Drawbacks

• Dependency on Counter-Intents: Each intent relying on a corresponding counter-intent can lead to inefficiencies. This is because the system has to wait for or find a matching intent, which may not always be readily available.
• Limited Liquidity and Market Depth: In a market with limited participants or in less popular asset classes, finding a counter-intent can be challenging, leading to liquidity issues.
• Delay in Matching: In scenarios where matching intents are not immediately available, there could be significant delays in executing transactions, which might hamper user experience, especially in a fast-moving market where prices and demands fluctuate rapidly.
• Complexity in Multi-dApp Coordination: The model becomes even more complex when considering multi-party transactions where several intents need to align, making the process more cumbersome. For example, consider a flow wherein a user with funds on Polygon wants to stake ETH on LiDo (Ethereum), following which they want to pool and add their stETH and ETH on the ETH-stETH liquidity pair on Uni v3.
• Increased Computational Load: Continuously searching for and matching intents requires significant computational resources, which can be taxing on the network, especially as the number of users and intents grows.

While Anoma’s intent-based model is innovative in its approach to decentralizing and simplifying transactions on the blockchain, it does have inherent inefficiencies, especially related to the reliance on finding matching intents for every transaction. This model might struggle with the fluidity and speed that are often required in dynamic financial environments. Addressing these inefficiencies would be crucial for the practical and widespread adoption of such a system. Anoma’s intent-based model currently appears more suited to straightforward trading and transfer intents. The framework might face significant challenges in catering to complex dApp interactions that require orchestrated actions across multiple platforms and blockchains. Addressing these limitations would require a more advanced, generalized intent framework capable of understanding and executing complex, multi-step dApp interactions.

SUAVE: An Intent-driven Blockchain by Flashbots

SUAVE, proposed by Flashbots, is a blockchain architecture designed to serve as a common mempool and a block builder network for all blockchains. By decentralizing the block builder roles in blockchain infrastructure, it aims to eliminate issues like MEV and provide the best execution of transactions with minimal fees for users. Unlike frameworks aiming for general user intents, Suave primarily targets intents related to transaction ordering. It allows users to express preferences for gas fees, transaction timing, and inclusion in specific blocks.

Technical Approach

• Auction mechanism: Suave uses an auction system where miners bid on transactions based on user preferences and potential MEV opportunities. This creates a dynamic marketplace for transaction execution.
• Off-chain coordination: Intent handling and auction mechanics happen off-chain, while the actual transactions are submitted to the Ethereum blockchain. This aims for flexibility and avoids increasing on-chain gas costs.

Potential Drawbacks

• Limited expressiveness: While Suave efficiently handles intents in terms of transaction timing and fee optimization, it might not be suitable for more complex user intents involving asset transfers, contract interactions, or specific data conditions.
• Interoperability and integration: It’s unclear how Suave integrates with existing wallets and protocols. Standardized protocols for intent communication and execution would be beneficial for broader adoption.

Router’s Cross-chain Intent Framework

Both Anoma and Suave offer glimpses into the future of an intent-driven ecosystem. But what if we could harness the potential of intents within the existing ecosystems right now? What if we could democratize intent-driven development without forcing developers to abandon their cherished tools and communities? That’s the essence of what Router’s intent framework proposes — a pluggable intent layer that sits atop the application layer, empowering developers to create user-centric applications on familiar L1s and L2s (including but not limited to EVM and Cosmos-based chains) and allowing users to execute complex DeFi operations with a click of a button.

As mentioned in the previous post, a collection of Intent Adapters forms the heart of our system. They are smart contracts designed to execute user intents on the blockchain. They simplify the complexities inherent in DeFi, facilitating smooth and efficient interactions, whether those are with a single decentralized Application (dApp) or spanning multiple dApps. A plug-and-play approach involving intent adapters unlocks several strategic advantages:

• Streamlining Multi-Step, Cross-chain Processes: With CCIF, users can engage in multi-step interactions that can span multiple blockchains. For example, performing a swap on the source chain, transferring the swapped token to the destination chain, and then staking that token on a liquid staking platform, all in a single workflow.
• Faster Adoption: Developers can leverage their existing skills and tools while adding intent-driven features to their projects, significantly accelerating innovation.
• Lower Barriers to Entry: Newcomers don’t need to scale the learning curve of entirely new networks, democratizing access to the potential of intent-driven development.
• Wider Reach: By focusing on EVM compatibility, Router unlocks a vast user/developer pool and a thriving dApp ecosystem, ensuring rapid proliferation and user adoption.

But perhaps the most crucial advantage of Router’s CCIF is that rather than exposing developers to entirely new systems, it builds upon the robust foundations of established chains, acknowledging the irreplaceable value of familiar workflows and empowering developers to evolve their existing projects. It’s about bringing intent-driven functionality to where the builders are, not forcing them to relocate.

Comparative Analysis

This post is just the prologue to a thrilling story. The whitepaper for Router’s intent framework is coming soon, revealing the intricate details of this innovative technology and its game-changing use cases. But before we delve into the technical depths, let’s open the dialogue:

• Can we have our cake and eat it too? Can intent-driven development flourish within existing ecosystems, enriching both users and developers?
• Can we bridge the gap between user desire and on-chain action, not just on new chains but on the ones we already call home?

Join us in this conversation, share your thoughts, raise your questions, and let’s collectively explore how Router’s Intent Framework can unleash the true potential of intent-driven development on familiar battlegrounds. Together, we can usher in a future where user desires not only guide on-chain transactions, but do so within the ecosystems we’ve nurtured and grown, democratizing access and accelerating the evolution of blockchain technology.

Stay tuned for the whitepaper launch, where the complete picture of Router’s Intent Framework will be unveiled. Remember, the blockchain isn’t a zero-sum game. By fostering collaboration and inclusivity, we can build a future where intent-driven development empowers all, bridging the gap between user desire and on-chain action.

Stay tuned for more updates, and join our community across various platforms for ongoing discussions and insights!

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