When "Intent" Becomes the Standard: How Can OIF End Cross-Chain Fragmentation and Return Web3 to User Intuition?

In the previous article, "Ethereum Interop Roadmap," we mentioned that the Ethereum Foundation (EF) has developed a three-step interop strategy to improve user experience: initialization, acceleration, and finalization (further reading: " Ethereum Interop Roadmap: How to Unlock the 'Last Mile' of Mass Adoption ").

If the future Ethereum is a vast highway network, then "acceleration" and "final determination" solve the problems of road surface smoothness and speed limits. But before that, we face a more fundamental pain point: different vehicles (DApps/wallets) and different toll booths (L2/cross-chain bridges) speak completely different languages.

This is precisely the core problem to be solved in the "initialization" phase, and the "Open Intents Framework (OIF)" is the most important "general language" in this phase.

At Devconnect in Argentina, although EIL (Ethereum Interoperability Layer) occupied a lot of the discussion, OIF, as a key glue between the application layer and the protocol layer, is no less important and is also a prerequisite for realizing the vision of EIL. Today, we will break down this OIF, which sounds a bit obscure but is crucial to the user experience.

I. What exactly is OIF? A paradigm shift from "instructions" to "intents"

To understand OIF, one must first understand a fundamental shift in Web3 interaction logic: from "transactions" to "intents".

Let's start with a real pain point for an average user. Suppose you want to exchange USDC on Arbitrum for ETH on Base. In today's Ethereum ecosystem, this often means an "operational marathon":

You need to manually switch to Arbitrum in your wallet, authorize a cross-chain bridge contract, sign a cross-chain transaction, open another aggregator, and finally exchange the USDC transferred to the base for ETH. Throughout the process, you not only have to calculate the gas and slippage yourself, but also be constantly wary of cross-chain latency and contract risks. It is a tedious process built up by a series of technical details, rather than a simple and clear path to meet your needs.

This is also a mapping of the traditional "command" model to Web3. Just like when you take a taxi to the airport, you need to plan your own route - "turn left first, go straight for 500 meters, go up the overpass, and exit the ramp..." On the blockchain, this means that users must manually operate step by step, such as cross-chain, then authorization (Approve), and then transaction (Swap). If any step goes wrong, not only will gas be wasted, but funds may even be lost.

The emerging "intent" model completely eliminates the intermediate cumbersome steps. You only need to tell the driver "I want to go to the airport and I am willing to pay 50 yuan". The user does not care which route the driver takes or what navigation method is used, as long as the result is achieved. On the blockchain, this means that the user only needs to sign an intent containing "I want to exchange USDC on chain A for ETH on chain B", and the rest is left to a professional solver to execute.

If the intention is so good, why is the Open Intents Framework (OIF) still needed?

In short, the current intent market is a fragmented "Wild West". UniswapX has its own intent standard, CowSwap has its own standard, Across has its own standard, solvers need to adapt to dozens of protocols, and wallets need to integrate dozens of SDKs, which is extremely inefficient.

OIF aims to end this chaos and establish a standardized "intent framework" for the entire Ethereum ecosystem, providing a common protocol stack for wallets, bridges, rollups, and market makers/solvers. As a modular intent stack jointly promoted by the Ethereum Foundation and leading projects such as Across, Arbitrum, and Hyperlane, it is not a single protocol, but a set of common interface standards.

It specifies what an "intent" should look like, how to verify it, and how to settle it, so that any wallet, any DApp, and any solver can communicate on the same channel. In addition to supporting multiple intent transaction modes, developers can also extend new transaction modes through OIF, such as cross-chain Dutch auctions, order book matching, and automatic arbitrage.

II. The Core Value of OIF: More Than Just Another Cross-Chain Aggregator

You might ask, what's the difference between OIF and today's cross-chain aggregators?

The most fundamental difference lies in standardization. Ultimately, most cross-chain aggregators today can be understood as building their own closed-loop system—defining their own Intent format, selecting their own bridges, connecting to routes, and managing their own risk control and monitoring. Based on this, any wallet or DApp that wants to integrate must connect to each aggregator's API and security assumptions one by one.

OIF is more like a neutral, open-source standard component library. It was designed from the beginning as a public facility built by multiple parties, rather than a private standard of a certain project: the data format, signature method, and auction/bidding logic of the Intent all adopt a common settlement and verification module. Wallets or DApps only need to integrate OIF once to connect with multiple backends, multiple bridges, and multiple solvers.

Currently, leading Ethereum players such as Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, ZKsync, and Across, which provide L2, cross-chain bridge, and aggregator services, have entered the market.

The liquidity fragmentation problem facing the Ethereum ecosystem today is far more complex than ever before – L2 is ubiquitous, liquidity is fragmented, and users are forced to frequently switch between different networks, cross-chain, and authorize. Therefore, from this perspective, the emergence of OIF is not just about making the code more elegant; it has profound commercial and experiential value for the large-scale adoption of Web3.

Firstly, for users, under the OIF framework, users no longer need to be aware of which chain they are on. You can initiate a transaction on Optimism with the intention of purchasing an NFT on Arbitrum. Previously, you would need to first transfer the asset across chains, then wait for the funds to arrive, then switch networks, and finally purchase the NFT.

Once OIF is integrated, wallets like imToken can directly recognize your intent, generate a standard order, automatically advance funds through a solver, and complete the purchase on the target chain. During this process, the user only needs to sign once. This is the so-called "chain abstraction" experience, and OIF is the underlying syntax that enables this experience.

At the same time, it can break down silos and achieve global sharing of liquidity across the entire network. After all, Ethereum L2 liquidity is currently fragmented. For example, Uniswap's liquidity on Base cannot directly serve users on Arbitrum. However, through the OIF standard (especially ERC-7683), all intended orders can be aggregated into a globally shared order book.

A professional market maker can simultaneously monitor demand across all chains and provide funding wherever there is demand. This means that liquidity utilization will be significantly improved, and users will be able to obtain better quotes.

Finally, for developers and wallets, it means one-time integration, universal applicability. For wallet or DApp developers like imToken, OIF means a significant reduction in burden, as developers no longer need to develop adapters separately for each cross-chain bridge or intent protocol.

Once the OIF standard is integrated, it can be immediately connected to the entire Ethereum ecosystem's intent network, supporting all solvers that conform to the standard.

III. Where has OIF developed to now?

As mentioned above, according to the Ethereum Foundation's public statement, OIF is led by the EF Protocol team, in conjunction with multiple teams such as Across, Arbitrum, Hyperlane, LI.FI, OpenZeppelin, and Taiko, and more infrastructure and wallets will participate in discussions and testing in 2025.

Recently, the spotlight at Devconnect has been on many new concepts, but the OIF puzzle is also being put into practice, mainly in terms of standard setting and the establishment of ecosystem alliances. For example, at Devconnect's Interop main stage this year, almost the entire day revolved around "intent, interoperability, and account abstraction." OIF appeared multiple times in related agendas and PPTs, and was clearly positioned as one of the key components of future multi-chain UX.

Although there is no large-scale application for ordinary users yet, judging from the frequency of meetings and the participants, the community has basically reached a consensus: the "good wallet + good application" in the next few years will most likely be built on public frameworks such as OIF to build cross-chain capabilities.

This includes the frequently discussed ERC-7683, one of the most concrete achievements of OIF to date. It was jointly proposed by Uniswap Labs and Across Protocol and aims to establish a universal structure for cross-chain intent.

During Devconnect, discussions surrounding ERC-7683 did indeed deepen, with more and more developers, solvers, and market makers increasing their support for this standard. This signifies that cross-chain intent transactions are moving from private protocols to public utilities.

Secondly, it complements another main line in the Interop series—the Ethereum Interoperability Layer (EIL). The OIF provides "intent and UX" at the upper layer, while the EIL provides "trust-minimized messaging channels across L2" at the lower layer. Together, they form an important foundation for the future Ethereum interoperability stack.

The Ethereum Foundation plays the role of coordinator rather than controller in this process. Through documents such as Protocol Updates, EF has clearly defined the OIF as the initial phase of the interoperability roadmap, which has given the market great confidence that the Intent is not a fleeting narrative, but a long-term evolutionary direction officially recognized by Ethereum.

For the entire Ethereum ecosystem, OIF is advancing "interoperability" from a concept on the white paper to an engineering reality that can be replicated, audited, and integrated on a large scale. Perhaps in the future, when you use a wallet, you will gradually notice a change: you only need to say "what you want to do" without having to worry about "which chain or which bridge" - that is when infrastructure like OIF quietly plays a role.

At this point, the initial "initialization" puzzle of interoperability has taken shape.

However, in EF's roadmap, simply understanding the intent is not enough; it also requires running fast and steadily. In the next article in the Interop series, we will delve into Devconnect's core topic— EIL (Ethereum Interoperability Layer) —and show you how Ethereum, through the "Acceleration" phase, builds a permissionless, censorship-resistant cross-L2 trust channel, truly realizing the ultimate vision of making all Rollups "look like a single chain."

Stay tuned.