The vision of Epoch is to use the new intent-based interaction paradigm to build an infrastructure layer that completely abstracts away the Web3 complexities for the user such as chains, protocols, gas, balance, and even execution.

The Problem of Complexity and Fragmentation in Web3

aka Web3’s Sophies’ Choices

1. The Exponential Growth of Protocols, dApps, and Chains

   Users often find it overwhelming to navigate the web3 ecosystem, identify the best protocols, and manage their assets across multiple chains.

   These countless choices aren’t just a barrier for new users - they also make it tough for developers to build dApps that might need to interact with other protocols to get the user in the correct state to use their dApp.

2. Fragmented Liquidity and Assets

   Users' funds are often scattered across multiple networks and assets, making fund management and cross-chain dApp interaction a painful task.

3. Mentally Taxing User Experience

   Performing transactions often involve multiple steps, long wait times, and interaction with newer unfamiliar dApps and protocols. Users must deal with different gas tokens, bridges, network conditions, and protocols.

4. Lack of Non-Custodial Automation

   Currently, there is no way to automate transactions in a non-custodial manner, maintaining full control over one's funds. All transactions are manual, requiring users to be terminally online to execute transactions at the right moment. There’s no way to make transactions that depend on and adapt automatically to the ever-changing on-chain and off-chain conditions.

5. Inconsistent Offerings from Protocols

   Different protocols offer varying rates, speeds, fees, privacy, and even MEV protection for the same actions across multiple chains. Aggregators have been great till now for verticals like bridging and swapping but as the variety of things we do on-chain increases even these aggregators would fall short of meeting the exponential growth. This would mean users must spend considerable time and effort finding the best rates for staking, swapping, lending, and other activities.

6. Limited Intent Solvers

   dApps that try to give a one-stop-shop solution for users often have a fixed list of protocols and chains they interact with, which means they cannot always offer the best possible rates or routes for users' transactions. Plus they cannot expand as quickly to the newest chains and protocols that might be more lucrative for users.

Epoch’s Solution: Using the Intent Paradigm along with Declarative Intent Input, Trigger Observers, Smart Account Level Permissions, and Fast Finality Bridge to offload the problems to sophisticated solvers.

Epoch Protocol sits between users, other protocols, and chains and provably optimizes for best conditions for all the involved steps - it figures out the intent → finds the best routes for desired actions → and/or waits for better routes → automatically performs intermediate steps like bridge funds if deficit → makes necessary swaps → handles the gas payment and ultimately settles user’s or protocol’s intent in a non-custodial way.

Intent-Centric dApp Discovery With Epoch’s Composable and Modular Intent Solver, solvers can plug modules specific to certain web3 verticals, protocols, and even other intent solver networks through adapters. They can either propose the most optimal partial solution or a complete solution.

Multiple Intent Solvers and Optimized Rates Epoch Protocol provides a network of these modular intent solvers that can join the network and counterparty discovery and solver competition the network can ensure that users always get the most optimal solution.

Time Abstracted Intent and Execution Epoch Protocol leverages SAFE smart wallets and account abstraction to offer fully non-custodial automation. Users maintain complete control over their funds while automating transactions based on on-chain or off-chain triggers. This ensures security and convenience without sacrificing control. This will become easier and more widely adopted through EIP-7702, ERC-7579, and ERC-7715 and various other discussions going around Smart Wallets.

Building an Inter-Compatible Solver Network At Epoch we believe that the intent solver networks shouldn’t be built in silos. The composability of Epoch Protocol means that through adapters there can be a two-way connection between Epoch Intent Solvers and other intent solvers.

Components of Epoch Protocol

Epoch Node: Divided into environments like Transaction Bundler, Context Setter, Observer, Composable Solver Environment, and Consensus to handle different stages of intent execution.

• On-Chain Contracts: Includes Registry and Gatekeeper, SAFE smart wallets, Epoch Plugin(ERC-7579 compatible), Epoch Hook, Liquidity Pool, and a cross-chain Epoch Paymaster for secure and efficient transaction management.

• Epoch SDK: Provides dApp developers with tools to easily integrate, use intent solvers, and automate transactions, reducing development time and effort by not internalising a bunch of protocols and writing custom smart contracts.

What does it mean for Users and Protocols

For dApps

• Simplified user onboarding by automating the acquisition of necessary tokens and positions and bridging - getting users in the correct state.

• Automate transaction execution and permission management for their users.

• Streamlined transactions across multiple chains, reducing the need for integrating and maintaining protocols.

For Users

• Declarative Intent-based input would mean users can give their transaction conditions and triggers in natural language too.

• Automated staking, lending, swapping, social, gaming, and much more based on optimal on-chain conditions.

• Simplified management of fragmented liquidity across chains.

• Better security as intent solvers can pick secure protocols and verify execution.

There’s More Coming…

We’ll share more information about the Epoch Protocol in the coming days.

We’d love to connect with

• developers who can make dApps and Modules for Epoch Protocol

• dApps who want to use intents to simplify user and development experience. Give a smoother experience to users.

• protocols who’d like to have their modules in the Epoch Module library.

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