作者：Rui Shang, SevenX Ventures

编译：Mensh, ChainCatcher

概览：8个最主要的稳定币相关的机会 — —

年轻一代是数字原住民，稳定币是他们的自然货币。随着人工智能和物联网推动数十亿自动化微交易，全球金融需要灵活的货币解决方案。稳定币作为“货币API”，像互联网数据一样无缝转移，并在2024年达到了4.5万亿美元的交易量，这一数字预计将随着更多机构意识到稳定币是一种无与伦比的商业模式而增长 — — Tether在2024年上半年通过投资其美元储备获得了52亿美元的利润。

在稳定币竞争中，复杂的加密机制并不是关键，分配和真实采用才至关重要。它们的采用主要体现在三个关键领域：加密原生、完全银行化和未银行化的世界。

在29万亿美元的加密原生世界中，稳定币作为DeFi的入口，对于交易、借贷、衍生品、流动性耕作和RWA至关重要。加密原生的稳定币通过流动性激励和DeFi整合进行竞争。

在超过400万亿美元的完全银行化世界中，稳定币提高了金融效率，主要用于B2B、P2P和B2C支付。稳定币专注于监管、许可以及利用银行、卡网络、支付和商家进行分配。

在未银行化的世界中，稳定币提供了美元的访问，促进了金融包容性。稳定币用于储蓄、支付、外汇和收益生成。基层市场推广至关重要。

加密世界的原住民

在2024年第二季度，稳定币占总加密市场市值的8.2%。维持汇率稳定仍然具有挑战性，独特的激励措施是扩大链上分配的关键，核心问题在于链上应用的有限性。

锚定美元之战

• 法币支持的稳定币依赖于银行关系：
  93.33%是法币支持的稳定币。它们具有更大的稳定性和资本效率，银行通过控制赎回拥有最终决定权。像Paxos这样的受监管发行人，因其成功赎回数十亿BUSD，成为了PayPal的美元发行人。
• CDP稳定币改善抵押品和清算以提高汇率稳定性：
  3.89%是抵押债务头寸（CDP）稳定币。它们使用加密货币作为抵押品，但在扩展和波动性方面面临问题。到2024年，CDP通过接受更广泛的流动性和稳定抵押品提高了抗风险能力，Aave的GHO接受Aave v3中的任何资产，Curve的crvUSD最近增加了USDM（真实资产）。部分清算正在改善，尤其是crvUSD的软清算，通过其定制的自动做市商（AMM）为进一步的不良债务提供缓冲。然而，ve-token激励模型出现问题，因为在大规模清算后，CRV的估值下降时，crvUSD的市值也随之缩水。
• 合成美元利用对冲保持稳定：
  Ethena USDe在一年内单独占据了1.67%的稳定币市场份额，市值达到30亿美元。它是一种delta中性合成美元，通过在衍生品中开设空头头寸来对抗波动性。预计在即将到来的牛市中，资金利率表现良好，即使在季节性波动后也是如此。然而，其长期生存能力在很大程度上依赖于中心化交易所（CEX），这令人质疑。随着类似产品的增多，小资金对以太坊的影响可能会减弱。这些合成美元可能容易受到黑天鹅事件的影响，并在熊市期间只能维持低迷的资金利率。
• 算法稳定币降至0.56%。

流动性引导挑战

加密稳定币利用收益吸引流动性。从根本上讲，它们的流动性成本包括无风险利率加上风险溢价。为了保持竞争力，稳定币的收益必须至少与国库券（T-bill）利率持平 — — 我们已经看到稳定币的借款成本随着T-bill利率达到5.5%而下降。sFrax和DAI在国库券敞口方面走在前列。到2024年，多个RWA项目提升了链上国库券的可组合性：CrvUSD将Mountain的USDM作为抵押品，而Ondo的USDY和Ethena的USDtb则由黑石集团的BUIDL支持。

基于国库券利率，稳定币采用各种策略来增加风险溢价，包括固定预算激励（如去中心化交易所的发放，可能导致约束和死亡螺旋）；用户费用（与借贷和永久合约交易量挂钩）；波动性套利（当波动性减弱时下跌）；以及储备利用，比如质押或再质押（吸引力不足）。

2024年，创新的流动性策略正在出现：

• 最大化区块内收益：
  虽然目前许多收益源于自我消耗的DeFi通货膨胀作为激励，但更具创新性的策略正在出现。通过将储备金作为银行，像CAP这样的项目旨在将MEV和套利利润直接引导给稳定币持有者，提供可持续且更丰厚的潜在收益来源。
• 与国库券收益复合：
  利用RWA项目的新组合能力，像Usual Money（USD0）这样的倡议通过其治理代币提供“理论上”无限的收益，以国库券收益作为基准 — — 吸引了3.5亿美元的流动性提供者，并进入了Binance的启动池。Agora（AUSD）也是一种具有国库券收益的离岸稳定币。
• 平衡高收益抵御波动性：
  较新的稳定币采用多样化的篮子方法，避免单一收益和波动风险，提供平衡的高收益。例如，Fortunafi的Reservoir分配了国库券、Hilbert、Morpho、PSM，并动态调整各部分，必要时纳入其他高收益资产。
• 总锁仓价值（TVL）是昙花一现吗？
  稳定币收益常常面临可扩展性挑战。虽然固定预算收益可以带来初始增长，但随着总锁仓价值的增长，收益会被稀释，导致收益效果随时间减弱。如果没有可持续的收益或在激励后在交易对和衍生品中的真正效用，其总锁仓价值不太可能保持稳定。

DeFi 网关困境

链上可见性使我们能够审视稳定币的真实性质：稳定币是作为交换媒介的货币的真实表现，还是仅仅作为收益的金融产品？

• 只有最佳收益的稳定币被用作CEX的交易对：
  近80%的交易仍然发生在中心化交易所，顶级CEX支持他们“首选”的稳定币（例如，Binance的FDUSD，Coinbase的USDC）。其他CEX依赖于USDT和USDC的溢出流动性。此外，稳定币正在努力成为CEX的保证金存款。
• 很少有稳定币被用作DEX的交易对：
  目前，只有USDT、USDC和少量DAI被用作交易对。其他稳定币，例如Ethena，其57%的USDe质押在自己的协议中，纯粹是作为金融产品持有以赚取收益，远非交换媒介。
• Makerdao + Curve + Morpho + Pendle，组合分配：
  像Jupiter、GMX和DYDX这样的市场更倾向于使用USDC作为存款，因为USDT的铸造-赎回过程更具怀疑性。借贷平台如Morpho和AAVE更喜欢USDC，因为它在以太坊上的流动性更好。另一方面，PYUSD主要用于在Solana的Kamino上借贷，尤其是在Solana基金会提供激励时。Ethena的USDe主要用于Pendle进行收益活动。
• RWA被低估：
  大多数RWA平台，如黑石集团，出于合规考虑使用USDC作为铸造资产，此外黑石也是Circle的股东。DAI在其RWA产品中取得了成功。
• 扩大市场还是探索新领域：
  尽管稳定币可以通过激励吸引主要流动性提供者，但它们面临瓶颈 — — DeFi的使用正在下降。稳定币现在面临困境：它们必须等待加密原生活动的扩展，或者寻求超越这一领域的新效用。

完全银行化世界中的异类

关键参与者正在行动

• 全球监管正在逐渐明晰：
  99%的稳定币以美元为支持，联邦政府具有最终影响力。预计在加密友好的特朗普总统任期后，美国监管框架将得到明确，他承诺降低利率和禁止CBDC，这可能对稳定币有利。美国财政部报告指出，稳定币对短期国债需求的影响，Tether持有900亿美元的美国债务。防止加密犯罪和维护美元主导地位也是动机所在。到2024年，多个国家在共同原则下建立了监管框架，包括对稳定币发行的批准、储备流动性和稳定性要求、外币稳定币使用限制，以及通常禁止产生利息的规定。关键例子包括：MiCA（欧盟）、PTSR（阿联酋）、沙盒（香港）、MAS（新加坡）、PSA（日本）。值得注意的是，百慕大成为第一个接受稳定币税款支付并许可生息稳定币发行的国家。
• 持牌发行者获得信任：
  稳定币的发行需要技术能力、区域间的合规性和强大的管理。关键参与者包括Paxos（PYUSD、BUSD）、Brale（USC）和Bridge（B2B API）。储备管理由BNY Mellon等受信任的机构负责，安全地通过投资于其黑石管理的基金来产生收益。BUIDL现在允许更广泛的链上项目获得收益。
• 银行是出金的守门人：
  虽然入金（法币转稳定币）变得更容易，但出金（稳定币转法币）的挑战依然存在，因为银行难以验证资金来源。银行更倾向于使用像Coinbase和Kraken这样的持牌交易所，这些交易所进行KYC/KYB并拥有类似的反洗钱框架。虽然像渣打银行这样的高信誉银行开始接受出金，但中小型银行如新加坡的DBS银行行动迅速。像Bridge这样的B2B服务聚合了出金渠道，并为包括SpaceX和美国政府在内的高端客户管理了数十亿美元的交易量。
• 发行商拥有最终发言权：
  作为合规稳定币领头羊的Circle，依赖于Coinbase，并正在寻求全球许可证和合作伙伴关系。然而，随着机构发行自己的稳定币，这一策略可能会受到影响，因为其商业模式无与伦比 — — Tether这家拥有100名员工的公司在2024年上半年从投资其储备中获利52亿美元。像摩根大通这样的银行已经推出了用于机构交易的JPM Coin。支付应用程序Stripe收购Bridge显示出对拥有稳定币堆栈的兴趣，而不仅仅是集成USDC。PayPal也发行了PYUSD以捕获储备收益。卡网络如Visa和Mastercard正在试探性地接受稳定币。

稳定币提升银行化世界的效率

在可信的发行者、健康的银行关系和分销商作为基础的支持下，稳定币能够提高大规模金融系统的效率，特别是在支付领域。

传统系统面临效率和成本的限制。应用内或银行内部转账提供即时结算，但仅限于其生态系统内。银行间支付的费用约为2.6%（70%给发行银行，20%给收款银行，10%给卡网络），且结算时间超过一天。跨境交易成本更高，约为6.25%，结算时间可长达五天。

稳定币支付通过消除中介，提供点对点的即时结算。这加快了资金流动速度，降低了资本成本，同时提供了可编程功能，如条件自动支付。

• B2B（年交易额120–150万亿美元）：
  银行在推动稳定币方面处于最佳位置。摩根大通在其Quorum链上开发了JPM Coin，截至2023年10月，JPM Coin每天用于约10亿美元的交易。
• P2P（年交易额1.8–2万亿美元）：
  电子钱包和移动支付应用处于最佳位置，PayPal已推出PYUSD，目前在以太坊和Solana上的市值为6.04亿美元。PayPal允许最终用户免费注册并发送PYUSD。
• B2C商业（年交易额5.5–6万亿美元）：
  稳定币需要与POS、银行API和卡网络合作，Visa成为第一个在2021年使用USDC结算交易的支付网络。

在未充分银行化的世界中的创新者

影子美元经济

由于严重的货币贬值和经济不稳定，新兴市场迫切需要稳定币。在土耳其，稳定币购买占其GDP的3.7%。人们和企业愿意为稳定币支付高于法定美元的溢价，阿根廷的稳定币溢价达到30.5%，尼日利亚为22.1%。稳定币提供了美元的获取和金融包容性。

Tether在这一领域占据主导地位，拥有可靠的10年记录。即使面临复杂的银行关系和赎回危机 — — Tether在2019年4月承认USDT仅有70%由储备支持 — — 其挂钩依然稳定。这是因为Tether建立了一个强大的影子美元经济：在新兴市场，人们很少将USDT兑换为法币，他们视其为美元，这种现象在非洲和拉丁美洲等地区支付员工、发票等方面尤为明显。Tether在没有激励的情况下实现了这一目标，仅凭其长期存在和持续的实用性，增强了其可信度和接受度。这应是每个稳定币的终极目标。

美元获取

• 汇款：
  汇款不平等减缓经济增长。在撒哈拉以南非洲，向中低收入国家和发达国家汇款时，经济活动个体平均需支付8.5%的汇款总额。对于企业而言，情况更为严峻，高费用、长处理时间、官僚主义和汇率风险等障碍直接影响该地区企业的增长和竞争力。
• 美元获取：
  1992年至2022年，货币波动使17个新兴市场国家的GDP损失达1.2万亿美元 — — 占其总GDP的惊人9.4%。获取美元对于当地金融发展至关重要。许多加密项目致力于入场，ZAR专注于基层“DePIN”方法。这些方法利用当地代理商促进非洲、拉丁美洲和巴基斯坦的现金与稳定币交易。
• 外汇：
  如今，外汇市场每天的交易量超过7.5万亿美元。在全球南方，个人往往依赖黑市将当地法币兑换为美元，主要是因为相比官方渠道，黑市汇率更为有利。Binance P2P开始被采用，但由于其订单簿方式，缺乏灵活性。许多项目如ViFi正在构建链上自动做市商外汇解决方案。
• 人道主义援助发放：
  乌克兰战争难民可以以USDC的形式获得人道主义援助，他们可以将其存储在数字钱包中或在当地兑现。在委内瑞拉，在政治和经济危机加深之际，前线医疗工作者在COVID-19疫情期间使用USDC支付医疗用品。

结束语：交织

互操作性

• 不同币种互换：
  传统的外汇系统效率极低，面临多重挑战：对手方结算风险（CLS虽然增强但繁琐）、多银行系统的成本（在澳大利亚银行的日元购买到伦敦美元办公室时涉及六家银行）、全球结算时区差异（加元和日元银行系统每天重叠不到5小时）、有限的外汇市场准入（零售用户支付的费用是大型机构的100倍）。链上外汇提供了显著的优势：
  - 成本、效率和透明度：像Redstone和Chainlink这样的预言机提供实时价格报价。去中心化交易所（DEX）提供成本效率和透明度，Uniswap CLMM使交易成本降至0.15–0.25% — — 大约比传统外汇低90%。从T+2银行结算转向即时结算，使套利者能够采用多种策略纠正错误定价。
  - 灵活性和可及性：链上外汇使企业财务主管和资产管理者能够接触广泛的产品，而无需多个特定货币的银行账户。零售用户可以使用内嵌DEX API的加密钱包获取最佳外汇价格。
  - 货币与管辖权的分离：交易不再需要国内银行，将其与基础管辖权脱离。这种方法利用了数字化的效率，同时保持货币主权，尽管仍然存在弊端。
  然而，挑战依然存在，包括非美元计价数字资产的稀缺、预言机安全、对长尾货币的支持、监管以及与上下线的统一接口。尽管存在这些障碍，链上外汇仍然展现出诱人的机会。例如，花旗正在新加坡金融管理局的指导下开发区块链外汇解决方案。
• 不同稳定币互换：
  想象一个大多数公司都在发行自己稳定币的世界。稳定币交易所提出了一个挑战：使用PayPal的PYUSD支付给摩根大通的商户。尽管上下线解决方案可以解决这个问题，但它们失去了加密货币所承诺的效率。链上自动做市商（AMM）提供了最佳的实时低成本稳定币对稳定币交易。例如，Uniswap提供多个此类池，费用低至0.01%。然而，一旦数十亿资金进入链上，必须信任智能合约的安全性，并且必须有足够深的流动性和即时性能来支持现实生活中的活动。
• 不同链互换：
  主要区块链具有多样的优势和劣势，导致稳定币在多条链上部署。这种多链方法引入了跨链挑战，桥接存在巨大的安全风险。在我看来，稳定币推出自己的第0层是最佳解决方案，如USDC的CCTP、PYUSD的第0层集成，以及我们见证USDT召回桥接锁定代币的举动，可能推出类似第0层的解决方案。

未解之问

与此同时，仍然存在几个悬而未决的问题：

• 合规的稳定币是否会妨碍“开放金融”，因为合规的稳定币能够潜在地监控、冻结和提取资金？
• 合规的稳定币是否仍会避免提供可能被归类为证券产品的收益，从而阻止链上去中心化金融（DeFi）从其大规模扩展中受益？
• 考虑到以太坊的慢速及其L2依赖单一排序器、Solana的不完美运行记录以及其他热门链缺乏长期业绩记录，任何开放区块链是否真的能处理巨额资金？
• 货币与管辖权的分离是否会引入更多混乱或机会？

稳定币引领的金融革命在我们面前既令人兴奋又不可预测 — — 这是一个自由与监管在微妙平衡中共舞的新篇章。

SevenX Ventures is thrilled to announce its investment in UXLINK, a leading Web3 social platform built on group functionalities. With a focus on the first principle of social interaction, UXLINK has hit a neat balance between the fundamental patterns of socialization and the essential principles of Web3.

UXLINK has provided all-new user connections and organizational structures with the introduction of the “Link To Earn” mechanism for trusted referrals and the groundbreaking “Web3-enabled groups.” The platform has developed unique protocols and data layers that empower Web3 developers with distinctive values. As of this writing, UXLINK has attracted over 5.5 million registered users and over 100,000 groups, with 800,000+ daily active users on the DAPP and 200,000+ daily active users participating onchain. Furthermore, UXLINK’s first-ever airdrop campaign is currently underway. It targets the top 10% of users and will cover more than 500,000 people.

Jon, Funding Partner of SevenX Ventures, noted, “UXLINK, through its penetrating insights into the genuine, urgent needs of Web3 users and projects, has harnessed the power of trusted relationships for exponential network effects. This, coupled with Web3’s inherent incentive mechanisms and wealth effect, has turned UXLINK into the fastest-growing group-based Web3 social platform with the largest pool of high-quality users and the strongest tokenization capabilities. Centering around open, interoperable, and modular Web3 solutions, UXLINK provides an enabling environment for projects and developers. This allows project teams to build strong, lasting connections with target users to expand the network in terms of both depth and width. From this perspective, we are confident in UXLINK’s asset issuance and trading capabilities fostered through socialization, as it becomes a crucial hub linking Web3 infrastructure and use cases.”

Author: SevenX Ventures, Arthur

SevenX Ventures has been a cornerstone investor in Matr1x since 2021 and co-led its recent $10 million Series A funding round. We are confident in backing Matr1x with multiple rounds of funding because of the team’s ability to learn quickly, decentralized spirit, professionalism, and deep knowledge of the shooter game space. In this article, we will share the reasons why we are attracted to Matr1x.

SevenX is currently strategically focused on the Web3 gaming sector because games have the potential to break barriers for blockchain and bring a significant influx of new users to the blockchain space. Unfortunately, in the past development of Web3 games, we observed that many products could only thrive within the Web3 community and failed to attract traditional gaming users. The main reason is that the majority of Web3 game products simply do not meet the sophisticated tastes of gaming users.

From Researching the FPS Genre to Discovering Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Why does SevenX believe Matr1x has the potential to attract a large number of gaming users? This begins with their entrepreneurial story.

The core team at Matr1x was previously working in a leading FPS product team at a major gaming company when, during market research, they stumbled upon an anomaly. Among all the FPS game categories, there was one product with exceptionally high revenue. That product was CSGO. They found that, despite having a similar number of online users as CrossFire, CSGO’s single-user Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) was 100 times that of CrossFire, and CSGO’s user monthly payment rate was 50% compared to CrossFire’s 1%, representing a nearly 50-fold difference in payment rates. This revenue gap was so significant that it couldn’t be simply explained by differences between PC and mobile games or variations in the spending capacity of European/American and Chinese users.

As a result, they delved into the reasons behind the commercial success of CSGO. They discovered that the core reason for CSGO’s high user income lies in the design of its business model. Unlike other shooter games that directly sell weapon skins in the official store, all weapon skins (cosmetics) in CSGO are obtained through opening cases and can be freely traded in the secondary market. The main revenue source for CSGO comes from selling keys to open cases and taxing transactions.

Why are users willing to spend more money in CSGO? The fundamental reason is that when users open cases in CSGO, it’s not just a consumer mindset; they feel they have the opportunity to make money. Since all in-game items in CSGO can be sold for real money, users perceive these virtual items as genuine assets. As a result, making them more willingly to spend money on CSGO.

After studying CSGO, the Matr1x team identified a massive market opportunity: there was no product in the mobile gaming space similar to CSGO’s business model that allowed users to truly own their game items and freely trade with other players in the market. The decentralized spirit of blockchain and technical standards like ERC-721 aligned perfectly with this product positioning, sparking the entrepreneurial idea for Matr1x.

How big of a business opportunity is this? Let’s begin with a market estimate of Matr1x’s first game, Matr1x Fire, compared to Cross Fire Mobile. Cross Fire M generates $187 million in annual market revenue, and we conservatively estimate that Matr1x Fire will be able to increase its ARPU by 30 times through the Web3-ized business model (refer to the difference in ARPU between CSGO and Cross Fire’s 100 times), and its annual revenue is expected to reach $5.61 billion. This revenue is 5 times that of PUBG Mobile, the most profitable handheld shooter in 2022. This is only the estimated revenue of Matr1x Fire. Matr1x is also about to launch a series of Web3 shooting games, including Battle Royale. If we use the same calculation method to estimate Matr1x’s revenue in the field of shooting games, the market revenue is expected to reach $39.21 billion，Almost equal to the overall revenue of the entire shooter genre. This estimate is based on the assumption that the revenue from PUBG mobile, which is $1.12 billion, will be multiplied by 30 and added to $5.61 billion. Matr1x’s user base is expected to reach millions, bringing never-before-seen killer applications to the blockchain.

Matr1x recognized that Web3’s business model had the potential to revolutionize not only the shooting game genre but also other game genres such as SLG, MMO, and party games. The team decided to start with their best shooting game and then expand to other genres, with the goal of turning Matr1x into a gaming platform that offers a variety of blockbuster games. Matr1x has the potential to become the largest entertainment platform on Web3, thanks to its many popular games.

The Story Behind Matr1x NFT Series Becoming the Global Leader in Game NFT Market

In the current quest towards a promising future, Matr1x has already achieved significant milestones. The total market value of Matr1x’s released NFT series has reached $110 million, making it the highest-valued global game NFT series. This accomplishment is not merely attributed to the exceptional quality of their products or well-defined game positioning; according to observations by SevenX, the decentralized spirit of the Matr1x team is the core reason for gaining market recognition. We will explain this with specific examples.

From a company philosophy perspective, Matr1x has set a vision to bring happiness and a sense of security to users. The realization of this vision is evident in every aspect of their actions, with the sale and operation of NFT asset series serving as a complete embodiment of their philosophy.

Before the release of NFTs, the team understood that the purpose of selling NFTs was not solely for profit but to allow early participants in the ecosystem to grow alongside the team by owning assets. During this process, they faced controversy, such as when Matr1x, amidst high community demand, insisted on not increasing the initial NFT sale prices. The team distributed all Genesis NFT YATC for free to contributors, while pricing the Matr1x 2061 series at 0.1 ETH. In contrast, similar projects at the time priced their Genesis NFTs in the range of 2–3 ETH. Despite bear market challenges, as investors, we questioned the team about why not generate more income by selling NFTs. Matr1x’s team firmly responded that the purpose of issuing NFTs was not to make money from users but to reward early supporters. The facts have proven that when Matr1x is willing to share benefits with users, users are more inclined to support them.

Another surprising aspect is that the team shared that Matr1x NFT series holders are approximately close to 1000 people, and the founders of Matr1x almost know each of the NFT holders. How did they achieve this? The team explained that the founders actively participate in AMA sessions and offline Matr1x Fire competitions, carefully listening to every user’s suggestions and feedback. They treat each NFT holder as a shareholder in the company, sharing the project’s development and future strategic thinking. When founders genuinely treat NFT holders as shareholders rather than mere participants, every user treated with care can feel it. Matr1x’s team truly demonstrates how to give users a sense of happiness and security by genuinely caring for each Matr1x user. Users who are treated with care are more likely to choose to support the most trustworthy team. We believe this is the core reason behind Matr1x’s current achievement as the world’s leading game NFT by market value.

In summary, the Matr1x team not only relies on their professional expertise in FPS game development to create a top-notch FPS mobile game in the current Web3 space but also captures significant business opportunities through their long-term accumulation and understanding of the FPS genre. From a single business opportunity, they anticipate the emergence of more games and ecological projects in the future. The team’s genuine decentralized spirit leads us to believe that Matr1x has a significant opportunity to trigger a decentralized revolution in the broader entertainment industry! Let us collectively anticipate the success of this revolution.

Contact: info@7xvc.com

作者：SevenX Ventures, Arthur

SevenX Ventures自2021年开始便是Matr1x背后坚定的基石投资者，并在其近期完成的1000万美元A轮次融资中继续担任联合领投方。而为什么我们有信心多轮下注支持Matr1x？除了其团队体现出来的超快速的学习能力外，去中心化精神、专业能力及其凭借对射击游戏赛道的深刻认知所挖掘出的巨大商业机会都让我们印象深刻，我们将在本文中一一分享Matr1x吸引我们的理由。

SevenX目前重点布局Web3游戏赛道，是因为游戏是区块链中极有潜力破圈从而为区块链带来大量新增用户的应用赛道。但是可惜的是在过去的Web3游戏发展中我们看到越来越多的产品只能止步于Web3圈子，根本无法打动游戏用户来参与。而其核心原因就是绝大部分的Web3游戏产品根本满足不了游戏用户挑剔的胃口。

从调研FPS赛道到发现创业机会

为什么SevenX相信Matr1x有机会能够吸引大量游戏用户？这就要从他们的创业故事说起。Matr1x核心团队当时还在某大厂的头部射击产品团队工作，在一次市场的调研中他们发现了一个异常数据，当时在所有的射击游戏品类中有一款产品的收入数据异常的高。这款产品就是CSGO, 他们发现CSGO的在线用户数在和穿越火线这款产品基本一致的情况下，CSGO的单用户收入ARPU是穿越火线的100倍，而CSGO的用户月付费率是50%对比穿越火线的付费率1%几乎是50倍的差异。这个收入数据差距大到不能单纯地用端游和手游不同或者欧美和中国用户消费能力不同来解释。

因此他们开始深入研究CSGO商业化做的如此成功的原因，他们发现CSGO为什么用户收入这么高的核心原因在于其商业模式的设计。不同于一般枪战类型游戏在官方商城直接售卖武器皮肤，CSGO的所有武器皮肤（饰品）都是通过开箱获得的而且都可以在二级市场进行真金交易，而CSGO的主要收入也是来自于开箱的钥匙的售卖以及交易抽税。

而用户为什么这么愿意在CSGO里花钱？核心原因就是当用户在CSGO开箱的时候不是单纯的消费心理，而是感觉有机会赚钱。因为用户在CSGO里的所有饰品都可以真金卖掉，所以用户认为他们是真正拥有这些虚拟物品，他们就会把CSGO里的饰品作为资产而不是消费品，既然是资产那用户自然就愿意花更多的钱来进行购买。

从CSGO到通过去中心化掀起射击赛道革命

Matr1x团队在研究完CSGO后发现了一个巨大的市场机会就是在手游领域一直没有一个类似CSGO商业模式的产品能够让用户真正拥有其游戏道具并可以在市场中自由交易。而区块链的去中心化精神以及诸如ERC-721的技术标准与这个产品定位不谋而合，这也触发了Matr1x创业的想法。

这是个多大的商业机会？我们先从Matr1x的首款游戏Matr1x Fire对标的产品Cross Fire来做个市场预估：Cross Fire的年市场营收1.87亿美金，我们保守估计Matr1x Fire将能够通过Web3化的商业模式将其ARPU 提升30倍（参考CSGO和Cross Fire的100倍ARPU差异），其年营收将有望达成56.1亿美金。而56.1亿美金是2022年最赚钱射击手游PUBG Mobile 营收的5倍。这仅仅是计算了Matr1x Fire的预计营收，目前Matr1x也即将推出包括大逃杀玩法在内的一系列Web3射击手游，如果我们按照同样的测算方法来计算Matr1x在射击手游领域能够达到的市场营收将有望达到11.2亿(PUBG mobile revenue)*30 + 56.1亿=392.1亿美金的市场规模，几乎相当于整个射击类手游的总体营收。而其用户规模将达到数百万级，为区块链带来前所未见的杀手级应用。

Matr1x发现Web3的商业模式能够掀起革命的绝不仅仅限于射击游戏赛道，团队也希望从他们最擅长的射击品类手游开始发展，再衍生到游戏的其他赛道比如SLG, MMO，Party game等，让Matr1x成为能够提供多款爆款游戏的游戏平台。最终再凭借其多款爆款游戏能够成长为媲美如今游戏业龙头的Web3最大的娱乐平台。

Matr1x NFT系列做到全球第一市场游戏类NFT背后的故事

而千里之行，始于足下。在目前通向美好未来的征程中，Matr1x也已经取得了不小的成就，目前Matr1x发布的NFT系列的总市值已经达到1.1亿美金成为了全球总价值最高的游戏类NFT。而他们这个成就绝不只是因为他们的产品质量过硬、游戏定位好就能解释的，就SevenX的观察来看Matr1x团队的去中心化精神才是真正促使其获得市场认可的核心原因。接下来我们将通过具体事例解释。

从公司理念来看Matr1x定下了要带给用户幸福感及安全感的愿景，而这个愿景的落地就完全体现在了他们行为的方方面面，其中NFT资产系列的发售及运营就可以完整地作为他们理念的体现。

在NFT还未发行时，团队就想明白发售NFT的目的不是为了赚钱，而是为了让生态的早期参与者可以通过拥有资产的方式一起伴随团队成长，让这些早期的Holder能够享受并参与到团队的成长。而他们在这过程中也遭遇了不少充满争议的时刻，比如当时Matr1x团队在社区热度极高的情况下，仍旧坚持不提高首批NFT售卖的价格， 团队把创世NFT YATC全部免费赠予有贡献的参与者，而Matr1x 2061系列定价为0.1ETH，而对比当时类似热度的项目基本都是把创世NFT售价定在了2–3 ETH的区间。而在市场深熊的环境下作为投资人我们也问过团队，有机会通过售卖NFT赚取一笔收入，他们为什么不要？Matr1x团队坚定地回答他们会发行NFT的目的就不是从用户身上赚钱，而是为了奖励这些早期愿意支持他们的用户。而事实也证明Matr1x愿意让利给用户，用户就愿意更多地支持他们。

还有一个令我们震惊的是团队和我们分享说目前Matr1x NFT系列持有者大约是接近1000人，而Matr1x团队的创始人却几乎认识他们每一个NFT的持有者。他们是如何做到的？团队回答说就是因为创始人非常大量的做AMA和线下Matr1x Fire的比赛，仔细地聆听每个用户提出的建议与反馈。而且会把每个NFT 持有人都作为公司的股东来对待，和他们分享项目的发展及对未来的战略思考。而当创始人真正把NFT持有人当作股东而不是韭菜对待时，每个被用心对待的用户都能够感受得到。Matr1x团队真正展现了如何给用户幸福感及安全感，就是真正用心地去对待每一个Matr1x的用户，而被用心对待的用户也会真实地选择支持最值得信赖的团队，我们认为这就是去中心化的内核而这也是Matr1x目前能够做到全球第一市值游戏类NFT的核心原因。

总结来说Matr1x团队不仅靠着其专业的射击游戏研发功底打造了目前Web3领域中顶尖的射击手游，更是凭借着其对射击赛道的长期积累与认知在产品定位上捕捉到了到了巨大的商业机会，并从一个商业机会出发未来还会有更多的游戏，更多的生态项目涌现。而其团队真实的去中心化精神更是让我们相信Matr1x将有极大机会在泛娱乐行业中掀起一波去中心化革命！让我们一同期待这场革命的成功吧。

Contact: info@7xvc.com

Basic Information

Overview

Altlayer is a decentralized protocol that facilitates the launch of native and restaked rollups with both optimistic and zk rollup stacks.

How it works

Altlayer is one of the top RAAS providers that facilitates a better modular world.

• Although there are many existing rollup frameworks, such as OP Stack, Arbitrum Orbit, ZKStack, Polygon CDK, etc.), spinning up a rollup still has some barriers including setting up sequencing, doing customization, keeping up with version updates, etc.
• Altlayer abstracts all the difficulties and complexities of launching a rollup by providing a user-friendly no-code launchpad.
   — Altlayer provides a no-code interface to spin up a new rollup in minutes. Launching a rollup becomes as easy as launching a dapp. Especially, altlayer innovatively supports launching a flashlayer, which is a one-time non-persistent rollup that caters to temporary rollup needs like during NFT minting. The customization offered by the dashboard includes network-level parameters such as a number of sequencers; chain-level parameters such as block gas limit, gas token, and contract size; and middleware solutions such as bridges and rpc-providers among others.

Altlayer is the only one providing restated rollups service.

• Altlayer’s restaked rollups are essentially a set of three vertically integrated Actively Validated Services (AVSes) created on-demand for a given rollup that works with any underlying rollup stack.
   — VITAL (Decentralized verification of rollup’s state)
   — MACH (Fast finality network)
   — SQUAD (Decentralized sequencing framework)
• With decentralized verification, faster finality and decentralized sequencing, more decentralized, secure, interoperable, and efficient rollups are enabled.

Vision

Accelerate scaling for web3 with modular, decentralized, ephemeral, fast-finalized, and restaked rollups

Investors

SevenX Ventures, Polychain Capital, Binance Labs, Jump Crypto, Breyer Capital, DAO5, Balaji Srinivasan (former CTO of Coinbase and former GP of a16z), Gavin Wood (Co-Founder of Ethereum and Parity), Sean Neville (Circle Co-Founder and USDC architect) and Ryan Selkis (Founder of Messari), among others.

Projects Highlight

Comprehensive Product Matrix

Altlayer provides a versatile rollup stack, already integrating with all major modular tech stacks and catering to different needs of rollups. Also, altlayer is the only RAAS that natively supports WASM. As the native run-time is WASM, it becomes possible to support other non-EVM runtimes. Therefore, users can launch rollups that use a variety of settlement layers such as Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum, and others.

Rapid Product Iteration, Following the Tech Frontiers

Altlayer is in close research collaboration with top industry leaders like OP Labs, RISC Zero team and EigenLayer, etc. The product of altlayer is constantly updating and improved:

• AltLayer has partnered with EigenLayer to build restaked rollups and support EigenDA. Restaked rollup stacks including VITAL and MACH will be launched gradually in 2024.
• Collaborating with Risc zero in development of zk-fraud proof. Refer to altlayer’s talk on our research house about zk-fraud proof for more details: https://twitter.com/yuxiao_deng/status/1732762696192512487
• Launching Turbo — a rollup framework for Autonomous Worlds.

• Launching flashgpt layer — A Siri-like assistant to deploy rollups & contracts. Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-language, FlashGPT is natively integrated to altlayer’s launchpad, making it possible to deploy the smart contract on an AltLayer-provisioned flash layer in minutes!

Tokenomics

ALT is AltLayer’s native utility token and is used in the following functions:

• Economic bond: ALT token will be used alongside restaked assets to provide economic stake. This stake can be slashed if a malicious behavior is detected.
• Governance: ALT token holders can vote on governance decisions.
• Protocol Incentivization: Operators in the AltLayer ecosystem can earn ALT tokens as rewards for their services.
• Protocol Fees: Network participants will need to pay for intra-network services in ALT tokens.

基本信息

一句话简介

AltLayer是一个去中心化协议，通过Optimistic和zk rollup堆栈推动原生和再质押Rollup的启动。

工作原理

AltLayer是顶级的RAAS (Rollup as a Service) 提供商，旨在实现更加模块化的世界。

• 尽管现在已有许多rollup框架（如OP Stack、Arbitrum Orbit、ZKStack、Polygon CDK等），但是启动rollup仍然存在一些障碍，比如设置排序、进行自定义和版本更新等。
• AltLayer提供用户友好的无代码启动平台，抽象了启动rollup的所有困难和复杂性。
   — AltLayer提供了一个无代码界面，可以在几分钟内快速启动一个新的rollup，就像启动dApp一样简单。值得注意的是，AltLayer创新性地支持Flash Layer启动（FlashLayer 是AltLayer 提供的一种临时的、一次性的rollup），满足NFT铸造等临时rollup需求。控制面板提供的自定义功能包括网络级参数（如排序器数量）、链级参数（如区块gas上限、gas代币、合约大小）以及中间件解决方案（如桥接和RPC服务提供者）等。

AltLayer是唯一一个提供再质押rollup服务的平台。

• AltLayer的再质押rollup实质上是一套三个垂直集成的主动验证服务 （AVS），为特定rollup按需创建，可与所有底层rollup堆栈兼容。
   — VITAL（去中心化的rollup状态验证）
   — MACH（快速最终确定性网络）
   — SQUAD（去中心化排序框架）
• 通过去中心化验证、快速最终确定性和去中心化排序，AltLayer实现了更加去中心化、安全、可互操作和高效的rollup。

愿景

通过模块化、去中心化、临时、快速最终确定性和再质押rollup，加速Web3的扩容。

投资人

SevenX Ventures、Polychain Capital、Binance Labs、Jump Crypto、Breyer Capital、DAO5、Balaji Srinivasan（Coinbase前CTO，也是a16z前GP）、Gavin Wood（以太坊和Parity联合创始人）、Sean Neville（Circle联合创始人兼USDC架构师）以及Ryan Selkis（Messari创始人）等。

项目优势

完备的产品矩阵

AltLayer提供了一个多功能的rollup堆栈，已经与所有主流模块化技术堆栈集成，可满足不同的rollup需求。此外，AltLayer是唯一一个原生支持WASM的RAAS平台。由于本地运行时是WASM，因此可支持其他非EVM运行时。用户可启动使用各种结算层（如以太坊、Avalanche、Arbitrum等）的rollup。

产品迭代快速，走在技术前沿

AltLayer与OP Labs、RISC Zero团队、EigenLayer等行业领导者开展密切的研究合作，不断更新迭代其产品：

• AltLayer与EigenLayer合作，构建再质押rollup并支持EigenDA。包括VITAL和MACH在内的再质押rollup堆栈将于2024年逐步推出。
• AltLayer与Risc zero合作开发零知识欺诈证明 (zk-fraud proof)。更多详情，请参阅AltLayer在我们的闭门研究活动上发表的相关演讲：https://twitter.com/yuxiao_deng/status/1732762696192512487
• AltLayer推出了用于Autonomous Worlds的rollup框架Turbo
  Turbo的特性包括：
   — 近乎即时的确认时间【改善延迟】
   — 动态出块速率 【提高效率】
   — 零gas费 【无需账户抽象】
   — 横向扩容 【规模化运转】
   — Burner钱包管理系统【无缝用户体验】
   — 可验证随机数生成器【可靠、可验证的随机性来源】
• AltLayer推出了flashgpt层。这是一种类似于Siri的助手，用于部署rollup和智能合约。FlashGPT由OpenAI的GPT语言提供支持，与AltLayer的launchpad原生集成，只需短短几分钟即可在AltLayer提供的Flash Layer上部署智能合约。

代币经济学

ALT是AltLayer的原生通证，用于以下功能：

• 经济性质押：ALT代币将与再质押的资产一起用于提供经济性质押。如果检测到恶意行为，该质押将被罚没。
• 治理：ALT代币持有者可以对治理决策进行投票。
• 协议激励：AltLayer生态系统中的运营商可以赚取ALT代币，作为对其服务的奖励。
• 协议费用：网络参与者需要使用ALT代币支付网络内部服务的费用。

Basic Information

Overview

Renzo is the LRT (Liquid Restaking Token) in the EigenLayer ecosystem, offering higher yields than native ETH staking through node services and risk management and releasing liquidity of restaking.

How it works

• Users deposit LST (such as stETH, rETH, and other liquid staking tokens) or ETH to receive the corresponding amount of ezETH.
• Renzo’s smart contracts distribute the deposited LST/ETH through EigenLayer to Active Validator Service (AVS) and operator nodes approved by risk assessment and DAOs.
• Users can earn rewards in native ETH staking, EigenLayer points, and ezPoints rewards. ezETH is expected to find application in more financial scenarios in the future.

Data

As of January 9

Vision

The protocol abstracts all complexity for the end-users and enables them to easily gain yields from EigenLayer, thus promoting widespread adoption of EigenLayer. Renzo envisions a future where it collaborates with EigenLayer to facilitate permissionless innovation on Ethereum, unlocking more channels of DeFi revenue and composability.

Investors

Maven11; SevenX Ventures; Figment; etc.

Project Highlights

EigenLayer presents vast market prospects, as restaking narratives gain momentum.

Restaking has gained the spotlight in articles assessing and budgeting trending crypto narratives in 2024. This concept, originally proposed by EigenLayer, aims to share security among various Rollups, sidechains, and middleware (DA Layer/bridges/oracles, etc.) to enhance the security performance of Ethereum. Users, on the other hand, are incentivized to restake by increased earnings. In a nutshell, Liquid Restaking Token (LRT) is nested within Liquid Staking Token (LST): Users stake ETH to acquire LST and then stake LST to receive LRT, enabling further financial operations like restaking and lending. Each additional restake provides users with another opportunity to leverage their liquidity for more profits. Notably, protocols like Renzo’s LRT also come with native restaking to EigenLayer, which bypasses EigenLayer’s current TVL cap for each LST type.

Then how big is this market? At the moment, the staked ETH, which stands at 29,235,511, is valued at around $67 billion. More specifically, liquid staking accounts for 37.1% of all ETH staked, totaling $24.7 billion. Furthermore, Lido holds an 85.2% share of ETH staked through liquid staking, which translates to 31.5% of all ETH staked. EigenLayer’s ETH balance now stands at 277,746, with a total balance of $550 million. This amount means that the EigenLayer ecosystem boasts a 50X growth potential, compared to liquid staking.

Building all-encompassing advantages via impressive partnerships.

Restaking, similar to LSD, highlights BD Game. Right now, Renzo has partnered with top players like Figment, Gauntlet, Biconomy, Balancer, and Wormhole. The project also has the former Lido BD head as its advisor. Apart from that, Renzo aims to build advantages through four aspects:

• Brand influence

Focused on research, Renzo Protocol explores LRT and AVS to build professionalism and influence in this field.

• Network effect

The Renzo team offers expertise in DeFi product development and boasts an edge in the speed of deployment. As one of the three mainnet-backed LSTs, Renzo provides smooth interactions, which has allowed it to expand its user base in EigenLayer’s rapidly growing ecosystem.

Renzo supports Wormhole in product design for rapid cross-chain expansion.

• Risk management

Compared to LST, LRT involves more complex risk management, especially for institutional users. Renzo can provide users with the best risk-adjusted returns.

• Tokenomics

The veToken model incentivizes long-term holders and guides incentives (AVSs can rent pooled security provided by Ethereum validators ).

Binding permissionless operators: Inspired by Rocketpool, Renzo allows users to stake tokens for the power to run AVSs, reducing the circulating supply.

The project’s tokenomics is designed for acquiring and rewarding outstanding operators in the early stage, enabling fast liquidity bootstrapping.

Potential risks

• Renzo’s smart contracts are exposed to certain risks.

• Third-party protocols: The project faces risks threatening its underlying LST protocol and EigenLayer.

• LRT depeg: Renzo is exposed to the risk of LRT depeg, as the tokens are affected by supply-demand dynamics and liquidity, which is similar to pegged tokens like stETH and ETH.

• AVS slashing: Higher restaking returns imply greater risks, and in extreme scenarios, users’ funds may be slashed.

基本信息

一句话简介

Renzo 是 Eigenlayer 生态的 LRT（Liquid Restaking Token），通过提供节点服务以及风险管理可以提供比质押原生ETH更高的收益以及解锁restaking的流动性。

工作原理

• 用户存入LST（即 stETH, rETH 等流动性质押代币）或者 ETH 拿到对应数量的 ezETH
• Renzo的智能合约将存入的 LST/ETH 通过 Eigenlayer 分配给通过风险分析和DAO选择的AVS和节点运营商
• 用户可以获得质押原生 ETH 的奖励，Eigenlayer积分和 ezPoints 奖励。未来，ezETH还可以用在更多的金融场景

数据表现

截止到1月9日

愿景

Renzo 抽象了终端用户的所有复杂性，使他们能够低门槛地获得eigenlayer的额外收益，从而促进 Eigenlayer的广泛采用。长期愿景是希望协同 Eigenlayer 一起，推动以太坊上的无许可创新，解锁更多的defi收益渠道和可组合性玩法。

投资人

Maven11; SevenX Ventures; Figment 等

项目解读

Restaking（再质押） 叙事火热，Eigenlayer 生态市场前景广阔

在对于2024年加密市场热点叙事的判断和预算文章里，Restaking（再质押）无一例外地榜上有名。这个由 Eigenlayer 首先提出的概念，希望能够实现各类Rollup，侧链和中间件（DA Layer/桥/预言机等）间的安全性共享，从而进一步维护以太坊的网络安全。而对于用户侧而言，参与再质押的动力则来源于更多的收益。简单来说，LRT（Liquid Restaking Token, 流动性再质押代币）是LST（Liquid Staking Token, 流动性质押代币）的套娃版本，质押 ETH 得到 LST，第二次质押 LST 得到 LRT，LRT可以进行再一次质押、借贷等等的金融操作。每多质押一次，就多了一次利用流动性博取收益的机会。值得注意的是，类似Renzo的LRT协议还支持直接原生再质押（Native Restaking）到Eigenlayer上，从而绕开目前Eigenlayer对于每个LST种类最高TVL的上限。

那这个市场有多大呢？目前质押的以太坊数量为29,235,511，金额约为670亿美金，其中Liquid Staking 占比37.1%，总额为247亿美金。在Liquid Staking中，Lido占比85.2%，占全部质押以太坊的31.5%。而Eigenlayer生态当前的ETH Balance为 277,746，Total Balance为5.5亿美元。对标Liquid Staking, 整个生态有50倍的成长空间。

合作伙伴阵容亮眼，全方位打造竞争壁垒

和 LSD 一样，Restaking 也是非常看重商务合作的赛道（BD Game）。目前，Renzo 已经跟Figment、Gauntlet、Biconomy、Balancer 和 Wormhole 等一线项目达成了合作， 同时拥有前 Lido BD 负责人作为项目顾问，除此之外，也在通过以下四个方面打造竞争壁垒。

• 建设品牌影响力

Renzo Protocol非常重视研究，围绕 LRT 和 AVS（Active Validator Service，主动验证服务）展开讨论，以此建立在这个领域内的专业度和影响力。

• 利用网络效应

Renzo团队拥有丰富的DeFi产品经验，在落地速度上有着明显优势，作为目前唯三主网上线的LST，Renzo的产品交互简单流畅，为在Eigenlayer生态快速发展期吸引用户和扩大用户基础打下基础。

Renzo 在产品设计上支持Wormhole，可以快速进行跨链拓展。

• 风险管理能力

相比LST，LRT涉及更复杂的风险管理，尤其是机构用户。Renzo 能够为用户提供最佳风险调整回报。

• 代币经济学

veToken模型激励长期持有代币，同时指导激励方向（AVS可以贿赂租用更多的安全性）

绑定无需许可的运营商：借鉴 Rocketpool 采用质押一部分Renzo从而获得给Renzo Restaker 跑AVS服务的权力，可以减少流通的代币。

用于早期优质运营商的获取和奖励，从而快速Bootstrap 流动性。

潜在风险

• Renzo智能合约的风险
• 第三方协议的风险：包括底层LST协议的风险和Eigenlayer的风险
• LRT代币depeg风险：类似 stETH 和 ETH 之间的锚定关系受市场供需关系和流动性的影响
• AVS slashing 风险：更高的Restaking收益意味着更高的风险，极端环境下用户的本金可能会受到罚没（slash）

基本信息

一句话简介

AI Arena是一款玩家可以通过AI学习，不断进化游戏角色的PVP格斗游戏。战斗模式类似于任天堂的《明星大乱斗》（super smash brothers）。游戏DEMO。

特色

全球第一款结合了AI和NFT的快打格斗类游戏，玩家通过训练AI来提升角色能力，通过观察室调整角色的数值分配，然后将他们投入竞技场的战斗中获得更高排名。

愿景

将游戏，NFT（IP）和AI算法结合起来，在给玩家带来全新的游戏体验的同时，保护AI从业者的知识产权，并帮助他们进行货币化。长期愿景是创建一个AI的双边市场，撮合买卖双方的需求。

NFT资产表现

AI Arena Mint Pass — 4.11 ETH，过去 30 日内涨幅 215% （截止日期：2024.01.09 数据来源https://opensea.io/collection/ai-arena-mint-pass）

投资人

Paradigm；Framework Ventures；SevenX Ventures 等

项目解读

AI+Web3的交叉叙事

SevenX 在之前发表的一篇关于ZKML的研究文章中，提到去中心化的区块链是平衡AI（和机器学习）的重要力量，一是可以结合其他技术，比如ZK，优化机器学习的信任框架，二是可以有效地利用长尾资源，降低使用AI的成本和门槛，而另一方面，因为许多 Web3 应用为了安全性和去中心化而牺牲了用户体验，而 AI 则能够帮助优化和提升用户体验，这是AI可以赋能Web3的部分。

具体到落地的应用场景，虽然AI+DeFi，AI+DID/社交均有用例，但 AI 与Web3 游戏的结合可能是最先实现用户基数扩大的领域。

独创玩法革新用户体验

• AI Arena并不是一款单纯的深度应用AI的Web3.0游戏，而是想通过Web3.0游戏让更多用户能接触、了解和体验AI，并让人工智能工程师能基于AI Arena来提供各种AI算法，从而帮助他们增加收入。
• 玩家首先创建一个自己的AI角色（角色并不需要是NFT，NFT角色可以获得奖励。玩家除了可以在Marketplace上购买NFT以外，还可以通过训练AI参加高质量的比赛赢得NFT），然后通过训练模式开始对自己角色的训练。玩家可以选择一个自己喜欢的训练场地与机器人进行对打（训练），通过战斗来教会自己的AI角色如何战斗。

• 在战斗过程中，AI角色的外观上会被红色线条覆盖，这表示玩家的AI角色并未开始接收数据（角色并未被训练）。因此，玩家在正式训练AI之前将数据接收犍打开，来确保AI能接收到数据，此时AI的外观上会被蓝色线条覆盖（这样设计的原因是为了避免AI接收不必要的战斗数据，导致训练出来的AI达不到理想的战斗效果）
• 在完成数据收集之后，玩家需要设置AI的训练参数，包括：训练强度（单次训练迭代数，块大小，学习率，方向函数，动作函数），重点领域以及需要清除的数据，然后开始训练AI角色

• AI观察室：训练完成后玩家可以通过AI观察室检查训练效果，同时可以选择保存模型或放弃模型。如果玩家选择保存训练模型，会有metamask弹窗提示，确认后会将模型保存在IPFS上并将hash存在区块链上

• 当训练完成之后，玩家可以在模拟模式中与系统机器人对战来检验自己的训练成果

“融合池” — AI Arena的经济飞轮

AI Arena的经济增长飞轮是Tokne和NFT一起驱动的。主要涉及了两类用户：玩家和研究员

玩家

• 玩家训练AI角色参与游戏排名赛。参赛需要押注$NRN （相当于entry fee），并有机会获得更多$NRN奖励（AI Arena会定期分配奖励）。未能获胜的玩家将损失掉一部分的押注。
• 在进入一轮排位战之前，玩家可以选择将他们在该轮比赛中赢得的一定比例的 $NRN 奖金投入融合池。转入融合池的奖金越多，赢得 NFT 的概率就越高。
• 玩家可以使用$NRN购买电池，为NFT充电然后在排位赛中战斗

研究员

• 质押$NRN 参与研究比赛（AI算法模型），有机会获得更多$NRN奖励

融合池（merging pool）

• 融合池的主要作用：让玩家有几率获得更强大的NFT角色
• 系统会选中在所有在排位赛中的某个特定回合被质押的 NFTs，让它们相互竞争。通过竞争，系统能挑选出要融合哪些 NFTs来创造更强大的 NFT。系统使用了适配度函数来为NFT的强大程度进行打分。得到每个 NFT 的适配度分数后，系统就可以使用转轮盘的方式来选择哪些 NFT 可以相互融合。根据每个 NFT 的适配度得分会对应一个融合概率：即适配度得分越高，被选中进行融合的概率就越高。一旦完成融合，我们就会得到新一批 NFTs，然后再次进行竞争。遗传算法中的每一次新竞争都被称为一代。随着世代的推移，NFT 将进化成越来越强大的 NFT。
• 从 “融合池 “中生成的 NFT 不同于初始掉落的 NFT。这些 NFT 是通过遗传算法生成的，并继承了提交到池中的 NFT 的技能。这确保了这些作为奖励的 NFT具有很高的经济价值。此外，融合池中的 NFT 是经过训练的，而初始空投的 NFT 是未经训练的
• 融合池的核心作用之一是控制NFT的通胀：如果玩家在融合池中获得了更强大的NFT，那么旧的NFT就会自动销毁掉

潜在风险

AI学习的方式是主动式学习，需要大量的人为操作。AI Arena的玩法设置虽然可以刺激用户，增加其在游戏中的停留时长，但在前期获客时，需要有效利用Web3特有的激励机制来快速扩大玩家基数和影响力。

By @Rui, Investor of SevenX Ventures

Content

• Crypto UX sucks? Key management sucks!
• Key management layers: Responsibility, Storage, and Access
• Existing players analysis: MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Privy and Particle
• New solution:
  - Key layer: WebAuthn, Secure Enclave and Passkey
  - Account layer: Smart Contract Account(SCA), External-Owned Account(EOA)
  - Signing layer: Protocol r1 pre-compile, third-party service, Solidity and ZK verifier
• Implementation case study: (key)+(account)
  - Clave wallet: (Secure Enclave webAuthn) + (SCA)
  - Soul wallet: (Passkey) + (4337 SCA)
  - OKX wallet: (MPC-TSS + Passkey) + (4337 SCA)
  - Web3Auth: (MPC-TSS + Passkey)+ (EOA/SCA)
  - Lit protocol: (MPC-TSS + Decentralized nodes + Passkey) +(EOA/SCA)

*Please notice cases above may soon change and improve

• Conclusion

TL;DR

The private key is the core that allows us to sign transactions on Ethereum, but managing it has been a nightmare, even in the readable form of “seed phrases”. Yet our goal was never to turn blockchain into a sophisticated game.

Authenticating authorized users is crucial for secure transactions. With the evolution of internet security and UX, we’ve moved from password authentication to biometrics like facial recognition and fingerprints. WebAuthn is a key development in this progression. This article closely discusses three terms:

1. WebAuthn: A web authentication standard uses public key-based credentials, often created by external authenticators. It eliminates the need for passwords and enables secure user authentication.
2. Secure Enclave: A hardware-based secure area within computing devices, the Secure Enclave is designed to protect sensitive data. Versions of a Secure Enclave are found in iOS, Android, and Windows devices. It can serve as a secure authenticator by implementing WebAuthn, but the private key, tied to the SE, often presents cross-device challenges.
3. Passkey: An implementation of WebAuthn at the operating system level, customized by various device and system providers. For instance, Apple’s Passkey uses the key stored in iCloud Keychain for cross-device synchronization. However, this approach is typically locked to specific platforms or systems.

As described above, the webAuthn implementations align with our goal for daily blockchain users, to achieve high-level anti-phishing security and a friendly experience. Here’s the idea to merge them into blockchain:

• Key Layer: Users authenticate using seamless biometric methods like facial recognition or fingerprint. Under the hood, it is the hardware-based security processor like Secure Enclave or cloud services like iCloud and Google Cloud that handle the key management. I’ll dive into addressing cross-device and cross-platform issues later.
• Account Layer: A Smart Contract Account (SCA) offers the ability to assign arbitrary signers(e.g. SE and Passkey) and threshold mechanisms. Moreover, its modular design enhances flexibility and upgradability. For example, an SCA can adapt its signing requirements dynamically based on factors such as transaction amount, time, or IP address. On the other hand, a traditional External-Owned Account (EOA) can be augmented with MPC services, their combination offers better interoperability and cost-effectiveness compared to SCA, though it lacks advanced functionalities that SCAs provide, especially for key rotation.
• Signing Layer: Ethereum natively supports the k1 curve, but WebAuthn’s signature verification incurs higher costs, since it uses the r1 curve for key generation. Therefore, some Layer 2 solutions like zkSync, planning on native EIP-7212 r1 curve precompiles. Additionally, there are third-party services, Solidity verifiers, Zero-Knowledge (ZK) verifiers, and distributed key management systems, to facilitate r1 curve signing in a more cost-effective manner.

Disclaimer:

Technological advancement doesn’t guarantee market success; Not all devices and platforms have adopted Passkey; Using SCA can be more expensive than EOA; The proposed solution evolves with technological progress.

Crypto UX sucks? Key management sucks!

In the blockchain realm, the real control of blockchain assets is not in the hands of the user or the wallet provider, but rather lies with the private key. This key is the most integral to the entire process of executing a transaction on Ethereum. To understand this better, let’s take EOA as an example:

• Key Generation: A random number selected from the secp256k1 elliptic curve serves as the private key. This key is then multiplied by a predefined point on the curve to generate the public key. The Ethereum address is derived from the last 20 bytes of the hashed public key. The ‘seed phrase’ is usually introduced for human-readable backup, enabling the deterministic derivation of private and public keys.
• Signing Transactions: A transaction, containing details such as nonce(a sequential number), amount, gas price, and recipient address, is signed using the private key. This process, involving the ECDSA, a digital signature algorithm that uses elliptic curve cryptography and adopts secp256k1 as the curve, generates a signature consisting of values (r, s, v). The signature and the original transaction are then broadcast on the network.
• Verifying Transactions: Once a transaction reaches Ethereum nodes, it undergoes a validation process in the node’s mempool. To verify the signer, the nodes use the signature and hashed transaction to derive the sender’s public key and confirm the transaction’s authenticity by matching the derived address with the sender’s.

As described above, the private key is an essential entity on-chain. Originally, Ethereum accounts, known as External Owned Accounts (EOAs), relied solely on a single private key, which posed significant risks, as losing the key meant losing access to the account.

Many may think Account Abstraction(AA) is the solution to everything related the bad user experience, which I’ll say not exactly. AA is about changing the validity rules to be programmable, and the programmability of Smart Contract Account (SCAs) makes it possible. AA is powerful, enables sending multiple transactions in parallel(abstract nonce), gas sponsorship and pay gas in ERC20(abstract gas), and more relevant to this article’s topic, to break the fixed signature validation(abstract ECDSA signature). Instead of EOA, SCAs can assign arbitrary signers and signing mechanisms like multi-signature(multisigs) or scoped keys(session keys). However, despite the flexibility and upgradability advancement of AA, the fundamental reliance on key(s) for transaction signing remains unchanged.

Even when converted into a 12-word seed phrase, managing a private key remains challenging, posing risks of loss or phishing attacks. Users must navigate between complex layers of decentralized solutions or the warm embrace of centralized service, neither of them is ideal.

Why crypto experience sucks? A large part of it is because key management sucks. It always requires tradeoffs in experience, security, and decentralization. This article explores potential optimal solutions for managing the key.

Key Management Layers

There’ll never be a one-size-fits-all solution, the best way to preserve the key is tailored to specific user scenarios, influenced by factors like user type (institutional or individual), capital amount, transaction frequency, and interaction types.

To clarify ahead, I avoid using the popular ‘self, semi, and fully custody’ methods to catalog. In my view, true self-custody means signing a transaction independently, without relying on another party, this holds even if the solution isn’t custodial in the traditional sense (like being stored in decentralized nodes’ TEE). Categorizing solutions as merely ‘good’ or ‘bad’ based on custody type is overly simplistic and doesn’t account for their varying suitability. For a more nuanced assessment of key management methods, I suggest analyzing them through three distinct layers:

Responsibility

Whether to split the responsibility of managing a key into different parties.

Given that individuals often face challenges in managing the key, distributing the responsibility of safeguarding the key emerges as a natural risk mitigation strategy. This category includes methods like using multiple keys to collaboratively sign, as seen in Multi-Signature (Multi-sig) systems, and dividing the private key into shares through a Secret Sharing Scheme(SSS) or Multi-Party Computation (MPC).

• Multi-sig: Requiring multiple complete private keys to generate transaction signatures. This method necessitates on-chain communication about the different signers, incurring higher transaction fees, and impacting privacy because the number of signers is visible on-chain.
• SSS: a private key is generated at a single location, and a dealer distributes pieces of this key to different parties. All parties must reconstruct the full private key to sign a transaction. However, this temporary reconstruction may introduce vulnerability.
• MPC-TSS(Threshold Signature Scheme): as an implementation of MPC, a cryptographic approach enabling several parties to perform computations while keeping their inputs private jointly. Each party independently creates a secret key share, and transactions are signed without these parties ever needing to physically meet. It introduces lower fees because it’s off-chain, and no single point of failure risk as SSS.

Storage

Store the key or shares, affected by security, accessibility, cost and decentralization factors.

• Centralized cloud services like AWS, iCloud and other servers. They’re convenient for frequent transactions, but more vulnerable to censorship.
• Decentralized storage like IPFS and Filecoin.
• Local computer/mobile: Keys are stored locally within the browser’s secure storage.
• Paper wallets: Physical printout of private keys or QR codes.
• Trusted Execution Environment (TEE): TEE provides a secure area within the main processor to execute or store sensitive data, isolated from the main operating system.
• Secure Enclave: The Secure Enclave on modern devices is isolated from the main processor to provide an extra layer of security and is designed to keep sensitive user data secure even when the Application Processor kernel becomes compromised.
• Hardware wallets: Physical devices like Ledger and Trezor, specifically designed to securely store private keys.
• Hardware Security Module (HSM): HSMs are specialized hardware devices designed for secure key management and cryptographic operations. They are typically used in enterprise environments and offer high-grade security features.

Access

How to verify user identity to access the stored key

Authentication is involved in accessing the stored key. It’s about validating that the individual attempting access is indeed authorized to do so. Looking back to history, we can categorize the history like this:

1. Something You Know: Passwords, PINs, answers to security questions, or specific patterns.
2. Something You Have:Include smart cards, hardware tokens (Time-based one-time passwords), or digital factors like social account verifications and SMS codes sent to a phone.
3. Someone You Are:Involve unique physical characteristics of the user, such as fingerprints, facial recognition (like Apple’s Face ID or Windows Hello), voice recognition, or iris/retina scans.

Upon these, 2FA and MFA are methods that combine two or more factors, like SMS combined push notification, to add more security layers to user accounts.

Existing Players Analysis

MetaMask allows users to use a password to access the key stored in the user’s local browser’s storage.

Trust Wallet allows users to use a password or faceID to access the key stored in the user’s local browser’s storage, the user also can choose cloud service to back up the private key.

Privy allows users to use multiple social login methods like email, using SSS to split three shares:

• Device share: Browser-iFrame, mobile- secure enclave.
• Auth share: Stored by privy, link to privy id).
• Recovery share: User password or encrypted by Privy stored in hardware security module (HSM).

Particle allows users to use social login, using MPC-TSS that has two shares:

• Device share: browser-iFrame
• Server key share: Particle’s server

New Solution

Key layer: WebAuthn, Secure Enclave and Passkey

Existing solutions above have been pivotal in introducing users to web3. However, they often come with challenges: passwords can be forgotten or targeted in phishing attacks, and even 2FA, though more secure, can be cumbersome with its multiple steps. Additionally, not everyone is comfortable entrusting a third party with key management, users still depend on their system availability and liveness while some services ensure they can’t access the key.

This brings us to ponder whether there’s a more effective solution — one that offers the closest solution to a trustless, high-security, and seamless user experience. This search leads us to the optimal web2 methods. Several terms are tightly related to the topic, as I described at the beginning of the article, WebAuthn is the authentication standard itself, while Secure Enclave and Passkey are implementations or components related to this standard.

WebAuthn

WebAuthn standardizes the interface of authenticating users to web-based applications. It allows users to log in to internet accounts using external authenticators instead of a password. Authenticators could be Roaming Authenticators (Yubikey, Titan key) or a Platform Authenticator (Built-in keychain on Apple devices), and so on.

The FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance initially developed the technologies behind WebAuthn. It was officially declared a web standard by the W3C in March 2019 and along with its standardization, major browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Apple Safari have adopted WebAuthn, significantly increasing its reach and usability. Now it is supported by many advanced devices.

Benefits of webAuthn:

• Enhanced Security: Eliminates reliance on passwords, reducing vulnerability to phishing, brute force, and replay attacks.
• Improved User Experience: Offers a simpler and quicker login process, often with just a tap or biometric verification.
• Privacy Protection: No shared secrets are transmitted during authentication, and individual websites don’t receive any personally identifiable information.
• Scalability and Standardization: As a web standard, WebAuthn ensures consistency and interoperability across different browsers and platforms.

Device-bound WebAuthn, eg. Secure Enclave

In modern cases, we can use the hardware processor as the authenticator, like Secure Enclave for Apple device, Trustzone for Android, and Strongbox for Google Pixel.

1. Key Generation: Using public-key cryptography, a key pair is generated in accordance with WebAuthn standards, typically using the P-256 r1 curve. The public key is sent to the service, while private key NEVER leaves Secure Enclave. User never handles the plain-text key, making it difficult for the private key to become compromised.
2. Key Storage: Private key is securely stored within the device’s Secure Enclave, a fortified subsystem segregated from the main processor. It safeguards sensitive data, ensuring that even if the main system is compromised, the raw key material remains inaccessible. The bar to compromise the Secure Enclave is extremely high, and therefore the most sensitive data types such as Apple Pay and FaceID data are stored there. Here’s a in-depth explanation of how SE works.
3. Authentication: Users use their facial recognition or fingerprint to get access, the Secure Enclave using the private key to sign a challenge from the service, and the service verifies using the public key.

Device-based webAuthn pros:

• Hardware-level security: Using Secure Enclave, an isolated hardware-based key manager to provide an extra layer of security.
• Phishing resistance: Do not involve entering any information on potentially compromised devices or websites.
• Convenient experience: They provide a more user-friendly experience. Users no longer need to remember complex passwords for different sites.

Device-based webAuthn cons:

• Device constraints: The private key can not be exported or retrieved if the device is lost or damaged, cross-device operation is impossible.

Cloud-based WebAuthn, Passkey

Addressing the challenge of cross-device functionality, tech giants have introduced cloud-based webAuthn implementation, Passkey is broadly familiar because of Apple.

Let’s take Apple’s Passkey as an example:

1. Key generation: The user’s macOS, iOS, or iPadOS device, as the authenticator, generates a public-private key pair when the user creates the account. Then sends the public key to the server, and the private key is stored on the device’s iCloud keychain. iCloud Keychain data is encrypted with a hardware-bound keypair, and stored in a hardware security module (HSM). The key is inaccessible to Apple.
2. Synchronization across devices: This process will be the same as accessing iCloud. Authenticate to the iCloud account, receive an SMS code, and enter the passcode of one of the devices.

Cloud-based webAuthn pros:

• Cross-device: Passkeys were designed to be convenient and accessible from all devices used on a regular basis. But currently limited to Apple devices, for Android it’s more challenging because of its diverse versions and hardware variations.
• Phishing Resistance: Same as above.
• Convenient Experience: Same as above.

Cloud-based Passkey cons:

• Rely on cloud service: Compare to device-based webAuthn, cloud-based passkey moves the security level from Secure Enclave’s hardware to iCloud keychain, some can argue it’s custodial to your cloud service. Some key aspects to consider include: User’s AppleID account used with iCloud is compromised; While iCloud Keychain employs end-to-end encryption to protect data, operational errors or vulnerabilities pose a risk.
• Restrict to platform: For example, using an iCloud-based passkey on an Android device is extremely challenging. Furthermore, unlike traditional methods, Apple and Google do not send device-specific assertions. This means it’s currently impossible to verify the type of device that generated a key, which raises questions about the reliability of the key and its associated metadata.

Account Layer: SCA and EOA

So far, we can see maintaining hardware-level security while addressing cross-device and cross-platform compatibility is challenging. Equally crucial is the social recovery option, such as adding multiple guardians for enhanced security. In this context, blockchain can show us a way.

A notable gap when we try to implement web2 webAuthn to web3: Web2 only requires proving ownership, whereas web3 also necessitates authorizing the transaction simultaneously. With Passkey, developers lack control over the signing message, which is typically generic, like ‘sign in.’ This can lead to potential front-end manipulation, users signing messages blindly — a seemingly minor but crucial concern.

Smart Contract Accounts(SCA), inherently smart contracts themselves, function as on-chain entities, capable of assigning arbitrary signers. This flexibility allows for programming various devices and platforms — such settingan Android phone, a Macbook, and an iPhone — as signers. Even further, Modular Smart Contract Account allows upgradability, swapping out new signers, changing the signing threshold from 2 out of 3 to even more intricate configurations.

Envision a wallet that adapts its security requirements based on context: it allows single-signer authentication when the user is on a familiar local IP address, but requires multiple signers for transactions from unknown IP addresses or above a certain value. With modularity and programmability, our imagination is the only limit to such innovations. Many SCA service providers actively build this space, including Safe, Zerodev, Biconomy, Etherspots, Rhinestone, etc. Also shout out to infrastructure like Stackup, Plimico, Alchemy make it possible.

Please check my previous research provides more comprehensive context around SCA.

EOAs can achieve social recovery and cross-device/platform compatibility through MPC services. Despite EOAs having fixed signers, MPC providers can split keys into shares for enhanced security and flexibility. This method lacks SCA’s programmable and upgradable features, such as timelock recovery and easy key deactivation. However, it still offers superior cross-chain capabilities by being chain-agnostic and is currently more cost-effective than SCAs. Notable MPC providers including Privy, Particle Network, web3Auth, OKX wallet, Binance wallet, etc.

Signing Layer: R1 support

Let’s take a step back to understand the context: On Ethereum, private keys are random numbers selected from the k1 curve, and the signing process also utilizes this curve.

However, the key pairs generated according to WebAuthn standards, use the r1 curve. Therefore, verifying an r1 signature on Ethereum is approximately three times more expensive than a k1 signature. Here are some approaches to address this:

Credit to Dogan, for more in-depth knowledge please check his research.

Protocol Solution:

• Solution: EIP7212, Precompiled for secp256r1 Curve Support proposed by Clave team.
• Evaluation: This proposal creates a precompiled contract that performs signature verifications in the “secp256r1” elliptic curve by given parameters of message hash, r and s components of the signature, and x, y coordinates of the public key. So that, any EVM chain - principally Ethereum rollups - will be able to integrate this precompiled contract easily. By far, protocol precompile maybe the most gas efficient solution.
• Implementation: zkSync

Third-party Service

• Solution: Turnkey
• Evaluation: a Turkey TEE ensures the private key is accessible only to the user via their PassKey and never accessible for the Turnkey themselves, however this still requires the liveness of the service.
• Implementation: Goldfinch

Solidity Verifier Solutions:

• Solution: FCL’s Solidity Verifier, FCL’s Solidity Verifier With Precomputation, Daimo’s P256Verifier
• Implementation: Clave, Obvious Wallet

Zero-Knowledge(ZK) Verifier:

• Solution: Risc0 Bonsai, Axiom’s halo2-ecc
• Evaluation: This approach leverages zero-knowledge proofs to verify computations outside the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), reducing on-chain computational costs.
• Implementation: Bonfire Wallet(Risc0), Know Nothing Labs(Axiom)

Each of these solutions offers a different method to empower cheaper and feasible r1 signature verification in Ethereum’s ecosystem, and here’s an assessment by Dogan.

Implementation Case Study

*Please note that as of December 2023, most of these solutions are in their early stages and may change or improve at any time. These examples are only for learning purposes; always refer to their official websites for accurate information.

Clave wallet: (Secure Enclave webAuthn) + (SCA)

Basics:

• Demo: https://getclave.io/
• Account: SCA
• Chain: ZkSync

Transaction process:

• Key creation: User provide biometric authentication like fingerprint or facial recognition, a key pair is generated inside the Secure Enclave, which never reveal or leave outside.
• Key signing: The app takes a required transaction message and forwards a signing request to Secure Enclave, user provide bio-auth to approve signing, and the Secure Enclave signs the message with the key, and to be broadcast to blockchain nodes.
• Additional functions: Smart contract account enables many powerful functions. First, gas sponsorship. Due to the paymaster, other parties like dApp or advertisers can pay for user’s gas fee, making the transaction process smoother, and also they are able to allow users pay gas in ERC20 instead of Ether or native token. And using session key, user can conduct signless transaction in a period of time.

Recovery mechanism:

The recovery process is conduct by Clave’s smart contract on zkSync, user is able to cancel the recovery during a 48-hour time lock, to prevent unauthorized and malicious activities.

• Cloud backup: A EOA will be created when user choose the cloud backup, the private key of the EOA is stored in either iCloud or Google Drive, user can use this cloud-stored private key to access their account from different device, and users can remove or overwrite this backup section at any time.
• Social recovery: User can assign their family or friend’s clave address as backup, if M of N guardians give a confirmation for recovery, the recovery will be executed after 48hrs lockdown if without cancel.

Soul wallet: (Passkey) + (4337 SCA)

Basics:

• Demo: https://alpha.soulwallet.io/wallet
• Account: ERC4337 SCA
• Chain: Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, and soon all EVM layer2

Transaction process:

• Key creation: Users provide biometric authentication like fingerprint or facial recognition, and the operating system generates Passkey and backs it up using cloud service. You can add more than one passkey cross-device and cross-platform.
• Add gardians(Optional): User can assign different EVM EOA address as guardians and set up a threshold for account recovery.
• Account generation: Using counterfactual deployment, users don’t need to pay any fee until the first transaction

Recovery mechanism:

• Passkey: Use any defined passkey to log into the wallet using an arbitrary device.
• Guardians recovery: The assigned guardians can rotate the wallet according to the threshold, and a time lock may addressed later to prevent malicious behavior.

OKX wallet:(MPC-TSS + Passkey) + (4337 SCA)

Basics:

• Demo: https://www.okx.com/help/what-is-an-aa-smart-contract-wallet
• Chain: 30+ chains
• Key: MPC-TSS, 2/3
• Account: 4337 SCA

Transaction process:

• Key creation: By creating a wallet, the OKX transforms a single private key into three separate shares. Share 1 is stored in the OKX server, share 2 is stored on user’s device local storage, and share 3 is generated by device, encrypted and can be backed up to the device’s preferred cloud services, like Google Cloud, iCloud and Huawei Cloud.
• Key signing: OKX using the MPC-TSS technology, user can obtain the full signature by using two out of three the private key shares when signing the transaction, the key shares never meet each other during this process.

Recovery mechanism:

• 2/3 mechanism: When user logged out, device is unavailable or one of the keys on the device is compromised, you can use new device to login OKX wallet(get the server share) and get the cloud service share, combine these2 shares to recover the wallet, OKX wallet will generate new secret shares.

Web3Auth: (MPC-TSS + Passkey)+ (EOA/SCA)

Basics:

• Demo: https://w3a.link/passkeysDemo
• Chain: All EVM and Solana
• Key: MPC-TSS, usually 2/3
• Account: Any account like EOA, 4337 SCA or general SCA

Transaction process:

• Key creation: By creating a wallet, three key shares generated. Share1 is social login share, user can type in their email, and a decentralized network of nodes the store the key for each user; Share2 is device share that stored on user’s device local storage; Share3 is generated by local computer and backed up by user’s preferred cloud services.
• Key signing: The Web3Auth MPC-TSS architecture ensures that the user’s key is always available, even using the threshold signing, keys never reconstruct or stored in a single place.

Recovery mechanism:

• Threshold recovery When user logged out, device is unavailable or one of the keys on the device is compromised, you can use social login method to login webAuthn account and get the passkey cloud share, combine these2 shares to recover the wallet.

Lit Protocol(MPC-TSS + Decentralized nodes + Passkey)+ (EOA/SCA)

Basic information:

• Demo: https://lit-pkp-auth-demo.vercel.app/
• Chain: Most of the EVM, Cosmos, Solana.
• Account: MPC-TSS, 20 of 30 network, can be adopted by both SCA and EOA.

Transaction process:

• Key creation: When user want to create a wallet, use first select an auth method(passkey, oAuth social login supported), a request then sent to relayer to create key pairs and store the auth logic to smart contract. Each key pair is generated collectively by the Lit nodes through a process called Distributed Key Generation (DKG). Operating as a decentralized network, 30 Lit nodes running inside TEE, each node holds a share of the key but the private key never exists in its entirely.
• Key signing: Receiving the request, Lit nodes independently validate or reject the request against the assigned authentication method, and using the MPC-TSS technology,1. Key shares are collected above the threshold(20 out of 30) to generate a signature and combined by client to fulfill the request.

Recovery mechanism:

• 2/3 mechanism: Use the auth methods stored in the smart contract to access the account, Lit nodes validate the requests and it will proceed if over 2/3 of nodes confirm.

Conclusion:

Fueled by enthusiasm for Layer2, Layer3, and Data availability solutions, we are keen to improve the performance of blockchain. Also, pursuing real security, combining Zero Knowledge Proof Privacy with transparency nature. All efforts are targeting one goal: To be ready for real users that frequently interact with blockchain and adopt crypto into their lives.

It’s easy to be trapped in an optimal technology dream, but we must ask: what kind of experience are we aiming for? We envision a world where crypto is about intuition rather than daunting tech terms, where a user jumps into the rabbit hole without hesitation and hassle.

Picture a user Rui: She discovers a fantastic dApp, easily signs up using facial recognition or a fingerprint, with the option to set up backups or guardians. As she engages with the dApp, she smoothly executes transactions, possibly with small ERC20 fees or even none at all. Later, she customizes her wallet settings — perhaps activating a time-lock for automated transactions, adding another device as a backup signer, or revising her guardian list.

Our builders make that happen. Integrating WebAuthn and Passkey, we enhance private key management, making it both secure and user-friendly. On top of the key, SCA as an entity opens a realm of personalized security and functionality. And as for gas fees? They become less burdensome, thanks to Paymaster providers who can create a ‘vault’ for swaps or even allow advertisers to cover fees for users. At the heart of this evolution, particularly for Ethereum mainnet and its equivalent Layer2s, is ERC4337. It introduces an alternative mempool that sets apart SCA transactions from EOAs, without major protocol overhauls. On the other hand, some Layer 2 networks are even embracing SCAs natively, seamlessly incorporating them into their systems.

It requires tremendous efforts to make everything easy. Many challenges exist like lowering deployment, validation, and execution fees for SCA; Standardizing the interface to increase account interoperability; Syncing account state cross-chain; and many more. Credit to all the builders, we’re getting closer to solve the puzzle day by day. And crypto ventures like us- SevenX, are ready to help great firms realize their vision.

If all of these interest you, there are my other pieces provides more comprehensive context :

• 04/ Account: Modular Smart Contract Account Architecture and Challenges
• 03/ Key(this article): WebAuthn and Passkey, Key Management for Daily Crypto Users
• 02/ Infrastructure: Ethereum Account Evolution brought by ERC4337