The AggLayer Will Be a Particle Accelerator for Blockchain Use Cases

New technology can change old ways of being to make life easier. 

The printing press led to mass literacy; with the development of steam power, the horse and buggy became trains and cars; the washing machine mechanized hours of hand-washing; and on and on. 

With each new paradigm shifting-technology, everyday life changed forever. Then came the Internet. 

The Internet split open the world. It upended communication systems, commerce, and connection—and introduced radical new economic mobility. 

With blockchain, money and user-owned value became native to the Internet for the first time. But this Web3 version of the Internet is now fractured. By fixing this fracture, the AggLayer extends the Internet to open up brand new design spaces across different use cases in a unified crypto ecosystem.

It is not an exaggeration to say the AggLayer is poised to usher in a new epoch in the history of the Internet. 

How does it work? As a protocol for unified interoperability, the AggLayer enables a future in which blockchains are no longer siloed but instead part of an interconnected, interoperable ecosystem. 

Just as TCP/IP did for the Internet, the AggLayer unifies many diffuse, dispersed blockchain networks. The ultimate goal? 

For every blockchain, regardless of execution environment, consensus, or VM, to connect to the AggLayer for unified liquidity, users, and state.

This is possible because of two crucial features at the heart of the AggLayer:

Unified liquidity and users: The AggLayer will facilitate unified liquidity and users across all chains. This means that when a chain is connected to the unified bridge, users will be able to access fungible tokens on any other connected chain. The unified bridge enables the safety of cross-chain transactions through a novel ZK-proof called the pessimistic proof, which gives an ecosystem-wide view of token ownership across chains. Fungibility for aggregated chains (aggchains) connected to the unified bridge means different chains can transact using the same tokens. In the past, for cross-chain transactions, users have had to rely on wrapped tokens with third-party bridges and interoperability solutions, or use native bridges and experience withdrawal delays. This creates bad user experience and, in the case of third-party bridges, introduces additional security assumptions. The AggLayer destroys the need for wrapped tokens, allowing developers to build dApps for the seamless transfer of fungible assets across chains for users of any aggchain.

Unified environment: The AggLayer will be a unified environment that makes it possible for developers to create a superior user experience. There are a number of ways in which this will be achieved, including the bridgeAndCall() mechanism, which bundles complex cross-chain logic into easy-to-execute commands. With bridgeAndCall(), developers can abstract away the complexity of a multi-chain ecosystem. An emerging coordination layer will eventually become a crucial aspect of the AggLayer's unified environment by unlocking atomic composability. Along with a number of other unifying coordination mechanisms, the core infra of the AggLayer creates an environment that will feel like a single experience across manifold chains.

Below, we explore how the AggLayer's unified interoperability accelerates existing use cases—and opens up the design space for verticals to capture new value in new ways.

DeFi

Right now, liquidity and users are fragmented across numerous blockchains and dApps. Developers are limited to the chains on which they deploy, and users are forced to navigate these fragmented ecosystems, leading to suboptimal UX. Costs are higher because users have to rely on bridges to move assets across chains. In the case of canonical bridges, time and fees can be long and expensive; and in the case of third-party bridges, there are not only significant additional security risks, but also wrapped assets that are a pain for users and developers alike.

AggLayer Solution: The AggLayer aggregates liquidity across blockchains, eliminating the need for developers to deploy on multiple chains, liquidity to be split across multiple chains, developers to create new liquidity for every wrapped token on a chain, and users to use bridges, introducing new, expanded design spaces for developers to truly build DeFi for a unified crypto. 

• Deep liquidity: The AggLayer allows for the transfer of fungible, unwrapped assets from chain A to chain B via the unified bridge. Right now, third party bridges and multichain L2 ecosystems often require wrapped assets, which confuses users and makes unnecessarily fragments liquidity across multiple pools or order books. some text
  • With asset fungibility, users on any aggchain can experience fungible tokens—the native tokens of chains connected to the unified bridge. Doing so means order books can be built with more depth. 
  • This opens up brand new design spaces for how devs think about building their projects, while also ensuring that users get the best prices across the ecosystem with the most efficient markets.
• Composable DeFi “Legos”: The AggLayer enables true cross-chain composability for DeFi protocols. Developers can create interoperable applications that leverage liquidity, smart contracts, and users from multiple blockchains. This allows for seamless integration of DeFi "Legos" across ecosystems, overcoming current limitations of fragmented liquidity and isolated user bases.
• Shared users: Developers need only focus on making the best use case possible. The AggLayer means developers don’t have to worry about locking into a single ecosystem or trying to bootstrap users. For chains with many users but less liquidity, their users get a better experience of interacting with chains that have deeper liquidity. For chains with deep liquidity but fewer users, they get greater use of the liquidity on their chains from the users on the other chains. 
• One-click transactions: Users can swap tokens between different blockchains in a single transaction without relying on external bridges. The AggLayer's near-instant message passing reduces complexity, costs, and security risks compared to current cross-chain swapping methods.
• Interoperable stablecoins: The AggLayer allows stablecoins to move freely across chains without wrapping, creating unified liquidity pools accessible on all connected blockchains. This enables more efficient use of stablecoins in DeFi protocols across different ecosystems.

Low costs and faster finality: Users can execute transactions at much lower costs because proof aggregation optimizes and amortizes gas fees across the entire AggLayer ecosystem. Aggregated transactions also means faster finality on Ethereum. The cost of posting proofs is lower due to it being amortized over multiple chains, allowing for those proofs to be posted more often at a lower cost.

Gaming

For game developers, a fragmented ecosystem presents a number of challenges. Attracting users to a new game can be a challenge, compounded by the choice of chain deployment and Web3 integrations. 

This is a pain point that the AggLayer seeks to alleviate.

AggLayer solution: Competitive gaming ecosystems become win-win, so gamers aren’t locked into a single chain. Connections will include Ronin, Immutable, Moonveil, and Wilder World, among many others.

• New design space with interoperability: A unified gaming ecosystem where in-game assets and player reputations seamlessly move between chains. Developers can create unified reputation systems, like the “ecological identity” for gamers in the AggLayer that’s being built by Moonveil, that track player achievements and behaviors across different games and chains. That means value in one game can be translated into value in another. 
• Existing ecosystems, extended: Instead of users being required to take multiple steps to engage with new games in Immutable or Ronin, the AggLayer will give users seamless access to all ecosystems—a bit like having a Steam account that also lets you play Playstation or XBox games.

Easy onboarding: The AggLayer dramatically simplifies the process of onboarding to the ecosystem. Any connection by any chain to any CEX is a connection to the entire ecosystem. This makes it easier for new games and new gaming chains to tap into existing users and liquidity; one CEX connection to one chain is a CEX connection to all, and with secure, seamless cross-chain transfers, it’ll be easier than ever for new games to find players from existing chains, like Ronin or Immutable X.

RWAs

The largest barrier to real world asset (RWA) adoption in DeFi is the lack of interoperability between blockchains. This prevents the formation of RWA markets. The current landscape is more akin to a series of venues than a true environment in which RWAs can thrive.

AggLayer Solution: With the AggLayer, integration between disparate RWA systems can become easy. With a unified environment, a true market for RWAs becomes a real possibility. 

• Cross-chain RWA marketplaces: The AggLayer enables seamless integration of RWA marketplaces across multiple blockchains. This creates unified markets where tokenized real-world assets like real estate andcollectibles can be traded across any connected chain, enhancing liquidity and market depth.
• Fractional ownership across chains: Users on all connected chains can access shared ownership opportunities for high-end assets like real estate or collectibles. The AggLayer allows fractional ownership tokens to be transferred or traded across any blockchain in the network, increasing liquidity and market dynamism for fractionalized RWAs.
• Multi-Asset Fund Aggregation: Fund managers can create and manage multi-asset funds containing tokenized RWAs from different blockchains in compliance with local regulations. These funds can include various asset classes like real estate, stocks, and commodities, and be traded across any connected chain.‍
• Polygon PoS Network Effects: Polygon Proof-of-Stake is the network with the most RWA assets aside from Ethereum. Integrating Polygon PoS into the AggLayer will supercharge its adoption, because it will become the main bridge that connects the entire ecosystem.‍
• Markets, not venues: The AggLayer ushers in an era of true RWA markets in DeFi, enabling cross-chain messaging that can emerge into standards.

AI / DePIN

Fragmented infrastructure means that AI, and other DePIN systems, operate in silos, causing inefficiencies in data sharing and model integration. This results in increased complexity and costs due to multiple platforms and custom integrations, while also fragmenting standards and resulting in interoperability issues. There’s also the problem of security: ensuring AI and other DePIN infra is safe is extremely complex in decentralized systems. 

AggLayer solution: Easier integrations and better cross-chain data sharing. 

• Seamless integration: AI systems across platforms and chains work together effortlessly.
• Enhanced security: Built-in security mechanisms ensure trust across interactions.
• Accelerated innovation: Easier data sharing and interoperability drive faster development.

Lower costs: Standardized protocols reduce the need for expensive custom solutions.

Novel Use Cases

AggLayer enables limitless use cases. As more chains join the AggLayer, new, imaginative use cases will be unlocked.

AggLayer Solution: The AggLayer not only aggregates DeFi liquidity, but data and unique information that is shared between chains. The vast improvements in cross-chain data sharing and unified application interfaces enable things we have never seen deployed onchain.

• Selective data sharing: Different AggLayer chains can selectively participate in data sharing between other chains and ecosystems, similar to a LAN vs WAN design in traditional computer networks. This can enhance enterprise use cases with specific data disclosure and audit rules.
• Data markets: Similar to how the AggLayer unifies DeFi and NFT liquidity, data markets are a ripe area for innovative on chain applications. Users can better take control of and utilize their data as the ecosystem of aggregated chains grows.

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While comprehensive, the above is not (even close to being) exhaustive. Aggregation is the future for a unified crypto landscape—and the AggLayer is leading the way. 

Tune into the blog and our social channels to keep up with updates about Polygon.

The future of Web3 is aggregated.

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