Deconstructing NEAR Chain: Can the "Chain Abstraction" Vision, Remodeled with Web2 Thinking, Be Realized?
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Deconstructing NEAR Chain: Can the "Chain Abstraction" Vision, Remodeled with Web2 Thinking, Be Realized?
NEAR aims to become an "interface gateway" similar to an operating system, where users can even customize and create their own front-end portals.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsRecently, the emergence of ZetaChain has brought the concept of "chain abstraction" into the spotlight. However, after deeper research, I found that @NEARProtocol is actually the true pioneer of "chain abstraction." Its proposed BOS frontend operating system, account aggregation, and super wallet features may sound Web2-like at first glance, but to lower the technical barriers of Web3 and improve user onboarding experiences, a thorough system overhaul is indeed necessary. Why? Let me share my observations.
First, there are two main evolutionary trajectories in the public blockchain space: "modularity" and "chain abstraction."
"Modularity" is now widely recognized—developers prefer lightweight, low-cost component development; various layers such as DA, execution VMs, and settlement layers exhibit diverse composability; and expansive stack-as-a-service narratives enabling one-click chain deployment have made modularity the dominant theme.
In contrast, "chain abstraction" remains in its infancy. The broader market is still stuck at the stage of patching bugs under the banner of "account abstraction," even陷入 a paradox where increasing levels of abstraction make things feel more confusing and distant for ordinary users.
There are two main reasons:
1) The goal of the abstraction track is to lower user entry barriers and pave the way for mass adoption. Currently, "account abstraction" via standards like ERC-4337 works well for solving compatibility issues across homogeneous chains, but faces challenges when dealing with heterogeneous chains. While wallet-side adaptations were originally used, the proliferation of diverse wallets has inadvertently increased user choice complexity.
2) Focusing solely on "engineering implementation" within the abstraction space isn't enough—the ultimate goal must be "user-centricity." For example: using social logins or biometric authentication (e.g., fingerprint/FaceID) to reduce usage friction; leveraging MPC technology to eliminate private key management and enhance security; achieving seamless backend protocol integration and cross-chain liquidity without user awareness, thereby minimizing operational complexity.
Overall, past efforts in "account abstraction" have been insufficient. What's needed now is full "chain abstraction" to further dissolve inter-chain communication gaps and liquidity silos—until all complex backend protocol interactions are completely "hidden," resulting in significantly improved user experience.
However, most Web3-native developers are accustomed to innovation centered around "engineering implementation." Perhaps injecting some Web2-style development thinking could serve as a catalyst.
The NEAR Protocol, which has seemed quiet for quite some time, has quietly built numerous innovations on both frontend and backend—possibly positioning itself for a major move in the new narrative of "chain abstraction." So, what exactly has NEAR done so far?
- BOS Blockchain Operating System
Now, visiting the NEAR website no longer presents a standard "my assets" dashboard. Instead, it feels almost like opening Facebook—a visually rich, interactive experience.
Its Featured Components allow you to click an "Open" button and instantly access a protocol’s liquidity staking page. Selecting NFT Marketplace directly redirects you to a curated list of NFTs available for purchase. There are also feeds, user profiles, and news recommendations. On first use, I couldn’t believe this was a Web3 project—it felt exactly like a Web2 portal site.
This is NEAR's newly launched Blockchain Operating System (BOS)—a public layer designed for browsing and discovering network experiences, serving as a blockchain-agnostic "frontend" system compatible with all blockchains. (Though currently, only a limited number of protocols are fully integrated.)
Clearly, NEAR aims to become an OS-like "interface gateway," even allowing users to customize and create their own front-end portals—offering a product experience strikingly similar to Web2.
If you only look at this flashy, unfamiliar frontend, you might think these developers are off-track. But viewed through the strategic lens of "chain abstraction," their direction becomes much clearer.
- Account Aggregation
With BOS as the frontend system, how does NEAR coordinate backend infrastructure to unify accounts across chains?
1) NEAR Account Abstraction: Features like email-based login and private key recovery have long been strong points of NEAR. Especially notable is its implementation of short domain names across chains, making biometric logins via Fast Auth (e.g., fingerprint or FaceID) straightforward—this step effectively lowers user onboarding barriers.
2) Chain Signing: NEAR has built an MPC Nodes system where nodes across chains jointly verify signatures. When users interact across different chains, the NEAR network acts as a shared custodian, co-signing transactions to enable cross-chain interactions. This shares similar interoperability logic with relay chains—standardizing backend contracts to handle cross-chain communication on behalf of users. NEAR doesn’t emphasize decentralization aspects of chain signing, likely because its sharded architecture gives it high confidence in performance and scalability.
3) Intent Relayers: Building on MPC-based cross-chain signing, smart contracts can act as agents to execute user "intents." Once a user submits an intent transaction on NEAR, the NEAR contract can remotely trigger actions on heterogeneous chains—functionally similar to a PayMaster proxy. In theory, the more complex the cross-chain logic becomes, the richer the user intents and overall experience can be.
- Super Wallet
Previously, NEAR achieved connectivity with MetaMask via Snap functionality, allowing users to sign transactions and connect to NEAR through MetaMask. Is that all?
Not at all. According to NEAR’s chain abstraction strategy, a super wallet should seamlessly access all Web3 applications, while functions like gas payment, asset bridging, and network switching should be entirely hidden. It appears NEAR is attempting to abstract the very paradigm of wallets. If the chain already has a Facebook-like portal interface, it also needs something akin to WeChat Mini Programs as application gateways—and NEAR’s Sender wallet seems to be heading precisely in that direction.
It’s not hard to understand: once NEAR achieves full "chain abstraction," wallet applications will be among the first to benefit.
Under normal circumstances, for a wallet to operate smoothly and reduce user churn, it typically requires extensive development to support various heterogeneous chains and diverse asset types. But under NEAR’s chain abstraction model, a wallet only needs seamless integration with NEAR itself. All other concerns—cross-chain compatibility, asset interoperability, automatic network switching—can remain completely hidden from view.
For instance, when a user browses an app in the wallet’s Discover section and clicks to interact, the wallet automatically configures the correct network and handles asset state transitions behind the scenes. The user experience would feel no different than shopping on an e-commerce site—no need to worry about any backend logic. Imagine if such a super wallet were fully realized—how many existing wallet products would tremble in response?
Above is a recap of what NEAR has accomplished in the realm of chain abstraction over the past six months.
As for whether NEAR’s vision of chain abstraction has been realized, whether it can be fully achieved, and what final form it will take—all remain unknowns. Approaching it with curiosity might still lead to disappointment. But this is the答卷 NEAR wants to present with its chain abstraction ambition. Do you believe in it?
Note: I've written several articles on "chain abstraction," following projects from @zetablockchain to @ParticleNtwrk再到 @Entanglefi, each offering unique approaches. Seeing NEAR’s bold, Web2-inspired vision unfold, how will they respond?
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Haotian | CryptoInsight
