Understanding Particle Network: How to Achieve "Universal" Chain Abstraction through a Diversified Stack?
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Understanding Particle Network: How to Achieve "Universal" Chain Abstraction through a Diversified Stack?
This article takes Particle Network as an example to explore how the new chain abstraction stack can enhance on-chain user experience.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Paul Timofeev, Shoal Research
Translation: Yangz, Techub News
Decentralized applications (dApps) refer to blockchain-native products and services that have existed since the advent of smart contracts and Ethereum. However, user adoption of dApp-based platforms has remained slow relative to Web2 applications and services. Netflix surpassed Blockbuster by offering greater convenience and choice through its transition from physical DVD rentals to digital and streaming services. Similarly, the smartphone’s promise of “the world at your fingertips” accelerated mobile app adoption, transforming how people interact with the internet and greatly benefiting social networks. In today's AI-driven environment, ChatGPT has become the fastest-growing application ever—surpassing Instagram and TikTok—by simplifying access to powerful artificial intelligence for nearly everyone via natural language processing (NLP) chatbot interfaces.
The common thread among these breakthrough products and their success is that they deliver a significantly better user experience than any existing enterprise or competitor. For decentralized applications to achieve similar success, on-chain user experiences must also become as seamless and convenient as possible—moving far beyond the current norms of seed phrases and fragmented blockchain ecosystems.
Transforming On-Chain User Experience
The ultimate goal of on-chain user experience is to allow anyone to do anything on any blockchain without needing to understand any underlying blockchain infrastructure—eliminating complex entry barriers and cumbersome cross-chain processes. To better appreciate this vision, it’s important to first understand the current state of on-chain accounts. On-chain accounts serve as the bridge between users and blockchains, storing assets and defining all activities and interactions with any blockchain-native program. To date, most blockchains use an externally owned account (EOA) model composed of two parts: a public key (wallet address), which serves as an identity and asset reference point, and a private key (seed phrase), which acts as the master password for access. Technically speaking, wallets function as account abstraction services, simplifying the management of one or more on-chain accounts.
While EOAs are widely adopted due to their simplicity and ability to empower self-custody, they also significantly hinder on-chain user experience. A major drawback of EOAs is that anyone who gains access to a seed phrase can take control of the wallet—a real threat for those who store seed phrases in cloud services like iCloud. Additionally, if someone loses or forgets their seed phrase, they permanently lose access to their on-chain assets.
The key to improving this on-chain user experience lies in the emergence of abstraction primitives—products and services built specifically to abstract away friction points within the on-chain experience. These may be toolkits and frameworks developers implement within their own networks or apps, or direct-to-user products and services. As Vitalik has noted, with growing developer interest in this space, teams launching their own abstraction primitives are becoming increasingly common, and achieving seamless on-chain UX may happen faster than most expect. But what exactly enables this breakthrough?
Account abstraction refers to decoupling the management of on-chain accounts from end users. This concept was first proposed back in 2017 but didn't gain traction until ERC-4337 was introduced in 2021. Early efforts around account abstraction led to the development of smart contract wallets—commonly known as smart accounts. In this model, on-chain accounts are managed by smart contracts, enabling them to be more programmable and optimized according to user needs. This opens up new possibilities such as social logins for account registration, using the same assets across different chains to pay gas fees, and executing multiple cross-chain transactions in one click.
The key to enabling account abstraction is the development of execution abstraction services—outsourcing transaction execution to specialized service providers called solvers (also known as fillers or executors) who find optimal solutions and execute transactions on behalf of signers. Here, users sign off-chain information referred to as "intent," containing instructions for performing on-chain operations (i.e., transaction execution requests). By separating transaction execution from signing, users can express their needs more easily, while backend solutions like private mempools or competitive solver networks help deliver optimal settlement and value to users.
Another critical component for achieving the ultimate on-chain user experience is the ability to communicate and interact across different blockchain environments. Historically, users have relied on cross-chain bridges to meet this need, but over time, these bridges have proven to be highly risky and insecure. Chain abstraction advances both account and execution abstraction while introducing new infrastructure at the network layer, eliminating the complexity of communication and interaction across different blockchain environments. For a foundational explanation and comprehensive overview of the broader chain abstraction ecosystem, see Shoal’s deep dive on chain abstraction.
Chain abstraction represents the culmination of efforts toward a shared goal: delivering a seamless user experience where users can perform on-chain actions without knowing—or needing to know—which specific chain they're using at any given moment. The following section explores how Particle Network exemplifies this progress through a new chain abstraction stack designed to enhance on-chain user experience.
Case Study: Particle Network
Protocol Background
Particle, initially launched in 2022 by co-founders Pengyu Wang and Tao Pan as a wallet abstraction service provider, offered developers a stack for creating non-custodial, embeddable DApp wallets that support social login via MPC-TSS technology. With the emergence of ERC-4337 account abstraction, the protocol integrated its AA (account abstraction) stack into its existing WA (wallet abstraction) stack, enhancing account structures with smart contract wallets. This laid the groundwork for later innovations such as BTC Connect, bringing AA services to the Bitcoin ecosystem via native Bitcoin signatures. Today, as part of its comprehensive, multi-faceted chain abstraction stack, Particle is launching its own L1.
Particle Network’s development team spans globally, with over 30 full-time employees, and partnerships with Berachain, Avalanche, Arbitrum, zkSync, and others. The protocol has raised $25 million across several seed funding rounds led by Spartan Group and Gumi Crypto, and recently secured investment from Binance Labs.
Protocol Overview
Particle Network is a modular L1 built on the Cosmos SDK, designed to act as a coordination and settlement layer for cross-chain transactions within a high-performance EVM-compatible execution environment.
Particle L1 is one component of Particle’s broader chain abstraction stack, consisting of Universal Accounts, Universal Liquidity, and Universal Gas. Universal Accounts provide a unified interface for token balances across chains; Universal Liquidity allows users to transact seamlessly in the background using their Universal Account; and Universal Gas enables users to pay gas fees with any token they hold.
Particle Network’s ultimate goal is to unify all on-chain users at the account level, enabling seamless cross-chain interactions through a single balance and account across L1, L2, or L3, while allowing anyone to easily pay gas fees with whichever token they prefer.
Universal Accounts
Universal Accounts (UA) refer to a new account structure powered by Particle L1 and central to Particle’s chain abstraction stack. At its core, UA attaches an ERC-4337 smart account to an existing EOA (externally owned address), unifying token balances across multiple chains by automatically routing and executing atomic cross-chain transactions. For end users, UA provides a single interface to manage funds and conduct transactions across different dApps, removing the friction of setting up new accounts on new chains and funding them—often requiring purchase of that chain’s native gas token.
This interface builds on top of existing wallets, leveraging Particle’s Universal Liquidity to execute atomic cross-chain transactions and transfer funds from user balances to different chains as needed. Transactions are processed by Particle’s global distributed node network, which handles bundling, relaying, and validation tasks.
To illustrate, consider the steps involved when a user wants to buy Dogcoin on an external chain (Chain X):
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The user logs in via an existing wallet or social account connected to their UA.
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The user submits a transaction request to Particle L1, expressed as an ERC-4337 UserOp to buy Dogcoin on Chain X.
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Bundler nodes within Particle’s decentralized node network process the relevant UserOp and execute accordingly.
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Particle’s relay nodes then monitor and synchronize execution status on the relevant chains. Once the transaction is confirmed, the state is sent back from the chain to the relay node, which forwards it to the user’s protocol and ultimately to the end user.
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As a result, the desired token appears in the user’s UA balance—without requiring direct interaction with the chain where the token resides.
Of course, there are many internal components operating behind this flow worth further exploration. If UA is seen as Particle’s user-facing product, then Universal Liquidity and Universal Gas are the key enablers of this seamless experience.
Universal Liquidity
Universal Liquidity (UL) refers to the layer within Particle Network responsible for automatically executing transactions submitted via UA. This layer is supported by Particle’s distributed network of Bundler nodes, which provide specialized services aimed at executing user operations (UserOps), such as trades or liquidity withdrawals from pools. Additionally, a distributed network of relay nodes—the Decentralized Messaging Network (DMN)—monitors transaction status on target chains and reports settlement states back to Particle L1.
The primary purpose of UL is to enable users to interact with different chains via cross-chain transactions without needing to buy or hold any tokens on the relevant chains. To better understand, consider the following scenario: a user wishes to buy 100 USDC worth of Dogcoin on Chain D, while holding 25 USDC each on Chains A, B, C, and D.
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First, the user signs a UserOp to buy 100 USDC of Dogcoin on Chain D, bundling their balances across four chains (A, B, C, D) into a single signature handled by Particle L1.
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After signing, the USDC held by the user on Chains A, B, and C is sent to liquidity providers (LPs).
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The LP releases the full 100 USDC on Chain D.
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The 100 USDC on Chain D is swapped for Dogcoin via a local DEX.
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Finally, the Dogcoin balance appears in the user’s UA.
Universal Gas
Universal Gas is the third pillar of Particle’s chain abstraction stack and key to gas abstraction, allowing end users to pay gas fees on any chain using any token. For example, Alice could use her USDC on Base to pay for a transaction on Solana, while Bob could use his OP tokens on Optimism to pay gas for purchasing an NFT on Ethereum.
When a user initiates a transaction via Particle UA, an interface prompts them to select a gas token, which is then automatically paid through Particle’s native Paymaster contract. All gas payments are settled on their respective source and destination chains, with a portion converted into Particle’s native PARTI token for settlement on Particle L1.
Protocol Architecture and Design
Particle L1 uses a high-performance EVM-compatible execution environment and a dual-token staking model comprising Bitcoin and the native token PARTI. Consensus and data availability are outsourced to a distributed network of Modular Nodes. Particle employs an Aggregated Data Availability (AggDA) model combining providers such as Celestia, Avail, and Near DA, supported by a decentralized system of Aggregated DA node operators.
On the backend, Particle’s chain abstraction stack is powered by three key modules: the Master Keystore Hub, the Decentralized Messaging Network (DMN), and the Decentralized Bundler. The Master Keystore Hub serves as the central source of truth for the entire Particle L1, coordinating smart contract deployments across all chains, synchronizing configurations between each UA instance, and maintaining synchronized states across all chains. DMN is responsible for communicating transaction execution status across different chains where users are conducting transactions, then relaying user operation statuses back to Particle L1 for settlement. This functionality is supported by a network of relay nodes. Finally, Particle leverages the Decentralized Bundler, a network of bundler node operators responsible for initiating and executing incoming user operations. This network is built around a distributed, permissionless network of Modular Nodes, with tasks delegated and outsourced across these nodes.
Modular Nodes
The use of modular nodes allows anyone to participate in running nodes dedicated to facilitating key L1 operations. These nodes can be categorized by function—for example, bundler nodes handle execution of cross-chain user operations; relay nodes monitor transaction status (e.g., executed, failed) and report them back to Particle L1 for settlement; watchtower nodes monitor the health and task performance of bundler and relay nodes across the network, providing execution and fraud proofs for each block per epoch.
Aggregated Data Availability Model
In blockchain, data availability (DA) refers to the ability to verify that data published to the blockchain is accessible. Typically, blockchains adopt a single DA solution—either internally within an integrated architecture or outsourced to partners or third-party providers under a modular framework. Particle is building its DA model using an aggregation approach, collectively outsourcing DA to Celestia, Avail, and Near DA to reduce single points of failure across the architecture. Particle implements two distinct DA strategies: selective publishing (assigning each block to a separate DA provider) and redundant publishing (sending each block to every DA provider).
As the sector evolves, it remains to be seen whether Particle will expand to other DA providers such as EigenDA in the future.
Dual Staking
PoS chains assign validators to propose and validate new blocks based on the amount of native tokens they stake, rewarding them proportionally for voting on blocks. In early stages, a major risk for these networks is that price volatility of the native token can impact network security and stability. Particle aims to mitigate this risk through a dual-staking model, allowing staking of both the native PARTI token and Bitcoin via Babylon. This model assigns separate validator pools for each token.
Login Flow Using Universal SDK
Particle’s Universal SDK allows users to add their existing wallets via EIP-1193-compatible providers, enabling application developers to create a seamless login flow for UAs—allowing users to begin transacting with their UA immediately after logging in.
Current Status of Particle Network
According to the team, prior to developing Particle L1, Particle achieved over 17 million wallet activations, more than 10 million UserOps, and integrations with over 900 decentralized applications.
On May 2, 2024, Particle Network launched its incentivized L1 testnet, offering point rewards through the Particle Pioneer platform. This public testnet allows users to test Universal Account and Universal Gas functionalities and earn points toward the upcoming PARTI token launch.
Data from the Particle Testnet V2 explorer shows the network has produced 1.3 million blocks, with total transactions exceeding 7.3 million and average daily transactions surpassing 400,000. Additionally, according to the Particle Pioneer campaign website, testnet transaction volume has exceeded 182 million, with over 1.49 million users earning a total of 27.3 billion points—averaging about 18,300 points per user. Particle L1 is currently scheduled to launch on mainnet in the second half of 2024.
Competitive Landscape in Chain Abstraction
Chain abstraction is poised to become the next major framework for interoperability platform development. Currently, multiple projects aim to become standard toolkits or stacks for building chain abstraction services.
Near Network
Near is a sharded PoS L1 building its chain abstraction stack through Account Aggregation—a multi-layered structure enabling users’ cross-chain interactions to operate through a single account.
Accounts on Near use two types of keys: Full-Access Keys, which have full private key capabilities (can sign any transaction), and Function-Call Keys, which are granted permission to sign calls to specific contracts or sets of contracts. Near also utilizes its FastAuth login service, allowing users to register accounts using email and authenticate via biometrics instead of passwords.
Multi-chain signatures are key to enabling this structure, allowing any Near account to interact with addresses on other chains. This is achieved via the NEAR MPC network, which supports key re-sharing so that even as nodes and key distributions change, the public key remains constant. MPC signature nodes in the Near network allow smart contracts to initiate the signing process, thereby creating numerous remote addresses on any chain. Near also introduced meta-transactions via NEP-366, enabling users to transact across multiple chains without holding native gas tokens. This is facilitated by relayers (third-party providers) who attach required gas tokens to signed transactions before relaying them to the network.
Polygon AggLayer
Polygon is developing AggLayer—a unified cross-chain bridge built using Polygon CDK for L2s—that aggregates zk proofs and submits them collectively to Ethereum for settlement. Under this model, all chains share a cross-chain contract with other supported AggLayer chains, gaining increased liquidity while maintaining independence, making it easier to bootstrap early-stage networks.
AggLayer uses ZK proofs to create an aggregated environment that lets users “feel like they’re using a single chain” while allowing supported chains to retain autonomy. Additionally, application developers benefit from broader user reach, as users from different chains can now interact with their products or services. For end users, the goal aligns with that of chain abstraction: delivering an internet-like user experience. So far, live components of AggLayer connected to Polygon zkEVM include a unified bridge connecting to Ethereum and the Solidity-based bridgeAndCall() library.
Other Notable Projects
Everclear (formerly Connext) is developing a new chain abstraction stack. True to its name, Everclear plans to launch the “first clearing layer,” providing global settlement for cross-chain transactions. Everclear will operate as an Arbitrum Orbit L2, powered by Gelato RaaS, and connect to other chains via Hyperlane and Eigenlayer. The protocol ultimately aims to function as a shared computer coordinating cross-chain transactions, settling them in invoice form and clearing them via Dutch auctions. Centered around its Clearing Layers, Everclear aims to reduce costs for market participants. These layers are programmable, pluggable into any settlement rail, support any transaction type, and offer permissionless liquidity for new chains and assets from day one.
Socket 2.0 marks Socket Protocol’s evolution from a cross-chain service to a chain abstraction platform, with its flagship Modular Order Flow Auction (MOFA) mechanism being a standout feature. MOFA aims to introduce competitive dynamics into efficient chain abstraction markets. Traditional order flow auctions involve a network of participants executing specialized tasks, competing to deliver the best outcome for end-user requests. Similarly, MOFA creates an open market for execution agents called Transmitters and user intents. In MOFA, Transmitters compete to create and fulfill chain abstraction bundles or ordered sequences of user requests involving the transfer of data and value across multiple blockchains.
Future Outlook
The opportunity in the chain abstraction space is exciting. However, as more teams launch their own solutions, VCs pour capital into any project mentioning “chain abstraction,” and users struggle to choose between options, several key considerations remain important.
The Case for Abstraction Primitives
Zee Prime Capital highlighted several important considerations regarding abstraction primitives in a recent article.
“Without a product, chain abstraction cannot truly solve real-world problems.”
Indeed, while user experience remains a key hurdle for the crypto industry, it may not be the final bottleneck preventing mass onboarding. In fact, infrastructure has evolved precisely to address poor UX caused by high fees and slow settlements. Now, with infrastructure in place (over 200 L1s/L2s exist), the shortage lies in successful products and services built atop them. This echoes Mert’s recent observation that most people fail to recognize today’s biggest barrier to building strong crypto applications isn’t crypto-native issues (infrastructure, UX), but rather unclear regulation and misaligned incentives across the industry.
A good example is the adoption (or lack thereof) of smart wallets.
Despite their innovation, smart wallets have largely failed to achieve widespread adoption so far. During the meme coin craze of Q4 2023 / Q1 2024, legacy apps like Phantom saw record download numbers—suggesting people are still willing to endure clunky seed phrases and poor UIs if they can just buy the next “Dogecoin.”
It should be noted that developing successful products and services using new technologies takes time. The success of web-based applications came only after years of iteration. As demand for underlying blockspace grows, we may see even more rollups and app chains emerge in the coming years. With the rise of RaaS providers and modular infrastructure solutions like Celestia, launching new chains that communicate seamlessly will only get easier. The demand for chain abstraction from end users stems from the creation of killer applications that attract users across chains and offer seamless experiences. Chain abstraction aims to solve the fundamental issue of lacking seamless cross-chain functionality, and the current lack of usable products and services does not invalidate its importance.
However, with that said, a key challenge abstraction primitives must overcome is ensuring successful coordination across the entire solver/node network—including state proofs, solver execution, transaction status, block confirmations, and other cross-chain guarantees—all of which require consensus. Given the nature of capital markets, there will always be newer, faster, cheaper solutions emerging, meaning chain abstraction providers must account for a range of complex backend processes and their implications. Over time, phenomena like time gaming and order flow capture will play increasingly significant roles.
Key Considerations for Particle Network
A key question surrounding Particle’s distributed node network is its degree of decentralization. Will only a few entities operate nodes, or can Particle attract enough participation to maintain a sufficiently decentralized node network? How can Particle successfully incentivize enough node operators to achieve meaningful decentralization?
To address this, we offer two suggestions:
1) Minimize the barrier to entry and participation for node operators
2) Provide a public dashboard via the Particle browser to monitor and observe the decentralization of the node network
Particle is building a settlement and coordination layer for atomic cross-chain transactions, raising questions about value accrual. What economic impact might the successful adoption of Universal Accounts and Particle L1 have on other blockchains and ecosystems? Can they benefit from increased user access?
Improving the user experience of blockchain-native applications is not a new requirement—developers have been working on this problem for a long time. Chain abstraction can create more user-friendly on-chain experiences, unlock new user segments for applications, and provide L1s/L2s/L3s with lower-cost, more efficient cross-chain communication and routing.
Vitalik notes that builders in the space have “plenty of energy and willingness” to achieve seamless on-chain user experiences. Improving UX alone won’t bring millions of users to the industry—but it remains one of the most important steps toward that goal.
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