Original author: Ben He, CEO of imToken
In 2022, we witnessed the domino effect triggered by Lunas plunge, which led to the successive collapse of several centralized wealth management products and encryption funds. And by early 2023, bank failures and state bailouts are the new focus. According to imTokens incomplete statistics, these black swan events caused direct economic losses of up to 100 billion U.S. dollars, indirect losses of at least 900 billion U.S. dollars, and affected more than 10 million users.
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What are the three major challenges faced by Web3 wallets
In our opinion, the main reason hindering the implementation of decentralized wallets is the three major problems of Web3 wallets:
User experience: New technologies bring new concepts and introduce new behavior patterns, and the cost of learning and understanding is high;
Security: The blockchain carries value, and both the protocol layer and the application layer face many security challenges;
Scalability: The performance and cost of the current blockchain cannot meet the needs of billions of users, which directly restricts the popularity of DApps.
Each aspect faces huge challenges, and there are mutually opposing and strengthening relationships between them, which together constitute the impossible triangle problem of Web3 wallets.
In this triangular system, adjusting one factor affects the overall structure. For example, improving scalability may optimize user experience, but may reduce security; while adding multiple layers of security measures may lead to poor user experience and even affect scalability.
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how to break through
With the continuous evolution of blockchain technology, great progress has been made in terms of user experience, scalability and security.
Among them, Rollup, sharding, modular application chain, cross-chain, etc. have made breakthroughs in scalability and operability; MPC, TSS and other technologies provide greater protection for the overall account security; ENS, .bit, and account Abstraction (Account Abstraction) technology not only improves user experience, but also provides more possibilities for customization.
However, these technologies still have limitations. For example, ENS has security risks in the mapping and resolution of domain names, and Rollup’s single sorter still has centralization problems.
So, besides stretching the triangle at the same time and striving for a balanced space, do we have a better choice?
Starting from seven years of experience in wallets, we propose a layered architecture solution, viewing the two-dimensional problem in a three-dimensional perspective, using the private key as the core layer, the chain as the network layer, and the account as the access layer , and set up a series of guiding principles in the corresponding relationship of the triangle.
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Examples of user scenarios
For new Web3 users who want to create a wallet quickly and get started for free. In this case, the user access layer is very important, and we can improve the experience by hiding private keys and exempting mining fees. The network level allows users to directly access Layer 2 or Layer 3 networks. The core layer can adopt the mature WebAuthn technology to realize non-perceived security.
For DApp Pro users, they most need a convenient, fast, and low-cost network. In this case, the core layer can protect user accounts through social recovery and risk control. The user access layer can provide convenient operations, such as batch processing and simultaneous access to multiple Providers. The network layer can continue to adopt the multi-chain and multi-network approach to bring convenience to users.
For large asset management users, they need isolated multi-signature accounts and pay the most attention to asset security. In the case of such a large amount and low frequency, the main activities often take place on the Layer 1 main network, and users are not particularly sensitive to miner fees. The most important thing to ensure is to provide the highest level of assurance at the core layer.
For payment scenarios, users need a silky experience that combines with actual scenarios. In this case, no network gas fee payment is required, and massive scalability on a Layer 3 network is required.
Payment privacy is also a very big demand. In the recent ETHGlobal Tokyo Hackathon, the imToken Labs team developed a social payment DApp by combining techniques such as stealth address and account abstraction.YORU, which can meet the privacy requirements of payment and provide a better user experience.
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Universal Account
Summarize
Summarize
imToken firmly believes that with the gradual development and maturity of blockchain technology, under the guidance of corresponding frameworks and principles, the impossible triangle problem of wallets is expected to be broken through. This will allow users to freely shuttle between the digital world and the real world anytime, anywhere with the help of blockchain technology in various life scenarios.
We look forward to discussing technology, design and product innovations with ecological partners, Web3 developers and community participants, and working together to break through the development barriers of Web3 wallets.
On April 21st of this month, imToken will sponsor and participate in the ETHTaipei Developer Conference. We will share an introduction to Stealth Address and introduce the application of account abstraction on StarkNet. In addition, we will also hold a 2-hour AA Workshop, which will guide developers from the working principle of account abstraction, contract writing, to the implementation of plug-in applications, and provide developers with detailed guidance and teaching. We very much welcome developers and builders to participate in the ETHTaipei Developer Conference, and also welcome to communicate with us offline.
