From DApps to Zomet: A Journey Through Crypto Complexities
How we are building an Uber for blockchains
As the use cases of cryptocurrencies become increasingly intricate and catered towards experienced users with all of those margin trading protocols and liquidity providing for automated vaults, wallets strive to simplify the utilization of crypto assets. In this article, we explore how these approaches can be combined to provide a comprehensive solution that bridges this gap for both users and developers.
The Great Wallet Quest
Finding a web3 UX is the holy grail for the crypto industry. As major wallets and decentralized applications strive to attract non-crypto users, they face the daunting challenge of high entry thresholds. To tackle this obstacle, most wallets now aim to create ecosystems with all essential platform features. However, accommodating multiple dApps with diverse scenarios proves to be quite a tricky task. Some wallets address this through aggregators, while others integrate the required logic directly into their platforms.
The result is a divergence among crypto wallets, leading to the emergence of two distinct categories: mono-ecosystem wallets (e.g., Metamask) and wallets supporting multiple blockchains (e.g., xDEFI, Coin98). Mono ecosystem wallets focus on delivering specific features tailored to their user base, while multi-chain wallets offer a range of limited features across different blockchains, including support for decentralized exchanges DEXes and NFTs.
However, it is unlikely that the next breakthrough dApp aggregator or crypto super-app will originate from wallet providers alone. This is primarily because these providers primarily develop solutions within their own platforms, which inherently limits their capacity to offer flexible cross-chain tooling. While they may support some aggregators, their internal development focus constrains their potential to become significant players within the aggregator layer or provide comprehensive features for side developers.
Enhancing dApp Interoperability
Due to their extremely autonomous nature, dApps operate as frontends for specific smart contracts or blockchain functionalities. While developers implement transaction-building logic, dApps become self-contained products, necessitating other projects to replicate their implementation to access the same features.
This approach proved itself to be very limited, particularly when different dApps need to cross-interact with each other. Inconvenient user experiences arise, as exemplified by Lido, a prominent liquid staking derivative provider, which requires users to purchase stETH from the market through a link to 1inch. This disjointed workflow forces users to switch between dApps, causing interaction friction (and appears to be very annoying :)
Good for us — the crypto industry is witnessing a trend towards aggregating common scenarios, with the rise of DEX and bridge aggregators as widgets or API endpoint providers (i.e. Socket or li.fi.) This growth responds to the increasing demand from crypto dashboards and dApps aiming to consume aggregated services while focusing on their core business goals.
The advantages of leveraging aggregators are manifold. Rather than directly utilizing a single DEX like Uniswap or PancakeSwap, it is preferable to utilize aggregators like 1inch to obtain optimal route splits and minimize slippage. Although additional fees may be incurred for end users, the resulting swap rate surpasses what a single DEX could offer. This approach ensures a sustainable business model for aggregators, while DEXs earn fees from the aggregator-driven swaps. Consequently, users don’t have to suffer selecting an exact provider for their trades, as the aggregator handles the routing process.
While DEX and bridge aggregators have made significant strides, their scope falls short of comprehensive dApp aggregation — an “Uber for blockchains”. To bridge this gap, Zomet enters the scene — an all-encompassing dashboard that streamlines cross-chain crypto use cases and facilitates seamless integration for external dev teams while still focusing on the best user-experience and best rates for retail.
So, What is Zomet?
All of the issues above can be solved by consuming the best of the aggregation theory, thus delivering all-in-one solutions for users as well as for those building. Let’s delve into the key features that make Zomet a game-changer:
- Streamlined user experience — Zomet offers a minimalistic and user-friendly interface, simplifying onboarding for specific crypto scenarios (rather than to distinct dApps) and providing efficient asset management for users.
- Cross-Chain support — By incorporating cross-chain functionality, Zomet brings together different blockchains & use-cases within a unified platform.
- Core crypto use-cases — The platform provides standardized dApps and services, ensuring users have access to essential use-cases they need.
- Developer-Centric scalability: Zomet’s scalability empowers the community to create and deploy new dApps through our developer center, fostering innovation and expanding the platform’s optimal solutions for users.
Our ultimate goal is to establish a space where the complexity of crypto is embedded seamlessly for both developers and users, cultivating a new generation of cutting-edge crypto applications with no UX pain associated.
Why do we think it’s gonna work out for everyone? — Let’s have a look!
Standardizing Contracts and Unleashing the Potential of dApps
The importance of contract standards cannot be overstated — while the implementation of smart contracts on Ethereum has been a groundbreaking achievement, the standardization of tokens plays an equally significant role in driving user and dev adoption. When users view their ERC20 tokens in a wallet, the presence of common attributes such as tickers, token names, decimals, and balances with consistent logic makes adding new tokens effortless. This standardization enables DEXes to seamlessly utilize ERC20 tokens, creating pools and executing swap transactions. By embracing token standardization, we ensure broader asset adoption and foster the development of dApps that can effectively leverage standardized assets.
Expanding the concept of standardization to dApps
The benefits of standardization can also be extended to dApps. Numerous projects, including 1inch, li.fi, and Rango exchange, have employed standardization for their DEX offerings. While these products may differ in implementation and business focus, the underlying principle remains the same: unifying services and encapsulating contract complexity within an additional layer to provide users with a single interface or API for swapping. Aggregators house instances of each provider, such as Uniswap or Pancakeswap, and the core logic entails obtaining swap information from these providers. Subsequently, the aggregator can split the swap between different services or select a preferred option to construct a transaction or set of transactions. This logic can be applied to NFT marketplaces, liquid staking providers, and lending protocols. While standardization does have limitations, such as the inability to support certain specific features across all services, these challenges can be overcome.
The versatility of dApp Aggregators and the rise of Meta-Aggregators
Another fascinating aspect of dApp standardization is that aggregators can also serve as providers, eliminating the need for implementing multiple liquidity providers. Furthermore, aggregators offer optimization by enabling the calling of multiple pools within a single transaction, with liquidity split for efficient slippage management. As a result, there is no longer a requirement to individually support every LP provider, as they become accessible through swap aggregators.
Harnessing the potential provider apps and services
Zomet introduces the concept of provider apps, which can be developed using a standard application format. A provider app can function as a standalone DEX entity or an aggregator, and scalability can be achieved in two ways: implementing additional standard providers or leveraging the logic of standardized providers through a service. Service acts as a meta-aggregator, simplifying the utilization of a group of providers. For instance, an NFT marketplace could utilize the SuperSwap service (a DEX and bridge aggregator) to convert users’ assets for NFT minting. This service can be applied to various use cases, with asset swapping being particularly important in the initial stages. As different groups of providers grow, the service can function as a standalone meta-aggregator app or a service, aligning with our vision of crypto adoption. By building their products on top of a crypto service like SuperSwap, marketplace developers can focus on platform development rather than dealing with complex crypto support. Similarly, content creators can mint NFTs and distribute them to subscribers on social platforms through NFT service calls, unlocking a myriad of possibilities for interaction with blockchains. We believe this service-driven approach will usher in a new generation of crypto applications.
dApp Features on the Zomet Platform: Streamlining Crypto Interactions
To create a scalable and user-friendly crypto platform, dApp standardization is paramount. Many existing platforms offer limited blockchain interaction scenarios, typically focused on asset sending, swapping, and bridging through a handful of aggregators like li.fi or socket.tech. At Zomet, our aim is to expand the range of scenarios for blockchain interaction by integrating apps into our platform.
- Enhancing user experience with unified interfaces
One key aspect of our approach is the concept of a unified UI for dApp aggregation. This refers to a single, cohesive interface that seamlessly integrates multiple decentralized applications, providing users with a consistent and intuitive experience. By accessing various dApps through a single interface, users can avoid the hassle of navigating through multiple platforms.
- Effortless asset management and accessibility
Zomet offers asset management services that provide data based on dApp requests. This means that every dApp can implement logic to provide data for users’ asset feeds. We strive to rapidly expand common features across different blockchains and offer user interfaces for emerging ecosystems. With Zomet, users can easily interact with various assets, including stakes in PoS networks, NFTs, or pool assets, and manage them directly from their asset page.
- Empowering developers with standardized and customizable options
Developers have two approaches to incorporating their apps into Zomet’s ecosystem. They can implement Zomet’s standards and add their apps as providers, benefiting from additional volume for their DEX through our platform’s token-swapping capabilities. Alternatively, developers can build apps on top of our services and utilize them to provide crypto features, such as swaps and NFT minting, through aggregators in their own applications. This approach allows developers to focus on their ideas while leveraging abstract crypto services. Even developers with limited crypto knowledge can utilize Zomet’s platform to create new and exciting applications. Furthermore, provider and service consumer approaches can be combined within a single application. For example, an NFT marketplace could provide NFT functionality while consuming a DEX aggregator for asset swaps needed in the NFT minting process.
- Seamless technical implementation and platform interaction
Zomet offers developers a streamlined workflow for building transactions across various blockchains using our SDK. This solution includes features such as gas estimation, seamless integration with ABI for EVM, protobuf transaction building for Cosmos SDK messages, and transaction preparation for signing. When an application sends a request to the app, Zomet signs it with the user’s wallet, eliminating the need for developers to support multiple wallets.
- Integrating scenarios into services
At Zomet, the aggregator functionality as a service that provides an extra layer for other apps within the platform to utilize. Our DEX and bridge aggregation service sends requests to all apps that implement the relevant standards and selects the best option for the user. The consumer app’s interface can be customized to display information from the service or utilize default elements.
- Asset provision and app launch
Apps on the Zomet platform can provide not only transaction-building logic but also assets for users. These apps can implement standards for use cases such as NFTs, pool assets, and staked tokens. This approach ensures a seamless experience across different ecosystems, supporting various app implementations in a unified manner. Developers can customize features on the application level and avoid limitations specific to certain scenarios. For example, a pool asset with a lockup period will appear like any other pool, but users will be notified of the required waiting period when attempting to remove liquidity. This seamless asset management allows users to easily switch between their assets, adjusting their pooled investments or managing lending assets directly from the asset page.
- Custom dApps and Future Development
In the initial stages of our product development, we focus on provider apps and aggregator interfaces that consume standardized apps and services. However, in the future, we plan to offer more customization options for apps, allowing developers to build their applications on top of our service infrastructure to interact with the blockchain at a deeper level. We will create an app marketplace for these developers and provide a UI kit to expedite the development process. The future of crypto apps lies in consuming service logic with embedded crypto complexity, and an open platform like Zomet allows the community to update and add new blockchains and dApps at the consumer-level.
Developer Center: Empowering Developers and Ensuring Quality
In the realm of dApp platforms and aggregators, scalability has often been a challenge due to limited resources for supporting blockchain and dApp logic upgrades. This limitation has hindered the potential of aggregators thus far. Recognizing this, we at Zomet have taken a different approach. We have developed a comprehensive developer center that enables the creation of both provider and consumer dApps, while also inviting the community to contribute by building new dApps with Zomet.
Our developer center offers a straightforward process for app building. Development teams simply need to provide their name, logo, and repository in order to test and deploy their app on the Zomet platform. To facilitate smooth development, we provide separate environments for development and production, allowing teams to work on new features while maintaining a stable build for customers. With each commit into the dev/master branch, a redeploy pipeline is triggered, and developers can monitor the current status of their builds through the developer center.
When building an app, developers are required to select the supported networks and standards. For standardized app testing, we offer an isolated testing environment where developers can interact with their applications using standard UX modules such as DEX, or they can run their own custom frontend.
Upon the platform release, the developer center allows development teams to create permissionless apps. However, to maintain the integrity of the ecosystem, we have implemented a review system. This system ensures that apps undergo a verification process, and verified developers gain accessibility for fast app updates. Our goal is to prevent fraud and provide a secure and reliable experience for all users.
Services: Enhancing Crypto Interactions
By adhering to standards, apps come together to form services that support abstract calls in consumer apps. For example, marketplace apps can seamlessly interact with DEXes to facilitate asset swaps between buyers and sellers.
Introducing SuperSwap
Our flagship service, SuperSwap, focuses on DEXes and bridges. Leveraging Zomet provider apps, SuperSwap identifies the optimal route for asset swaps. By incentivizing consumer app developers to utilize SuperSwap through fee sharing from service calls, we foster increased adoption. This mutually beneficial arrangement enables effective provider apps to generate volume while providing additional revenue streams and effortless crypto logic integration for consumer apps. Furthermore, users can conveniently purchase tokens directly through an on-ramp service, reducing costs associated with expensive or inefficient asset swap routes.
Expanding Our Service Offerings
As our platform expands, we will introduce new services like NFTs, lending protocols, and more. However, it is important to note that provider selection cannot be solely delegated to the user in certain use cases. In these scenarios, where no definitive best solution exists, users must consider additional metrics such as provider popularity, liquidity, and incentive size when choosing the most suitable provider.
Summary
Zomet’s dApp standardization concept simplifies the development process by establishing guidelines and specifications for decentralized applications on the Zomet platform. This approach reduces complexity and enhances user experience by providing common features and interfaces for developers. By standardizing transaction building specific to each application, the concept enables the creation of complex blockchain logic. This not only fosters the growth of decentralized ecosystems but also opens up new possibilities for business models and use cases. Our goal is to build upon the existing dApps aggregation layer and offer a single platform for the next generation of applications. This approach ensures scalability, encourages community collaboration, and allows us to offer a wider range of dApps and blockchains compared to centralized platforms and wallets.
