Ethereum foundation prioritizes interoperability as its top UX goal

The Ethereum Foundation has identified interoperability as the top near-term priority in its user experience (UX) strategy, focusing on intent-based architecture, speed, and unifying standards to streamline crosschain interactions.

In a Friday blog post, Ethereum researchers emphasized that interoperability represents the highest leverage opportunity for Ethereum’s UX in the next six to twelve months. Their near-term strategy revolves around enabling users to express “intents” outcomes they wish to achieve while the network handles low-level transactions seamlessly. This includes improving message-passing infrastructure to support smooth interactions across layer-1 and rollups.

Key metrics for this effort include time-to-inclusion, confirmation/finality, layer-2 settlement, and signatures per operation. By focusing on these aspects, Ethereum aims to optimize crosschain communication, addressing the fragmentation challenges caused by multiple layer-2 protocols that extend Ethereum’s functionality and scalability.

Addressing the bottleneck in crosschain communication

Currently, crosschain message-passing is a significant bottleneck due to slow settlement times, which hinder the ability to unlock fast interoperability across Ethereum’s network. Ethereum researchers stress that the focus must be on accelerating crosschain message-passing and standardizing the process to eliminate fragmentation and ensure a smooth user experience.

Streams of development to enhance interoperability

To tackle these challenges, Ethereum Foundation developers have divided interoperability work into three main streams: initialization, acceleration, and finalization.

1. Initialization: Intent-based architecture and foundational projects

The first stream focuses on laying the groundwork for intent-based architecture, which allows developers to express high-level outcomes without worrying about the underlying transactions. Three key projects in this stream are:

• Open Intents Framework: A modular stack for using intents in Ethereum development. Production smart contracts are already live, with audits expected to finalize by Q3 2025, and crosschain validation anticipated in the final quarter.
• Ethereum Interoperability Layer: A trustless cross-layer-2 transport to ensure prescriptive execution across layer-2 protocols. This is led by the ERC-4337 team, which focuses on Ethereum’s account abstraction standard to improve smart contract wallets.
• Interoperability Standards: These standards are being developed to ensure a consistent crosschain user experience. New standards include ERC-7828/7930 (interoperable addresses), ERC-7811 (asset consolidation), ERC-5792 (multi-call flows), ERC-7683 (common intent format), and ERC-7786 (neutral messaging interface).

2. Acceleration: Speed improvements across layers

The second development stream focuses on increasing speed at every layer of the Ethereum network. This is critical for reducing delays in crosschain communications and accelerating transactions across layer-1 and layer-2 protocols.

3. Finalization: Improving zero-knowledge proofs and finality times

The final stream focuses on finishing touches, including improving zero-knowledge proof support and enhancing layer-1 finality times, to further solidify Ethereum’s interoperability and performance.

Future impact of Ethereum’s interoperability efforts

Ethereum’s push for enhanced interoperability aims to address the growing demands for faster, more transparent crosschain communication, facilitating Ethereum’s role as the backbone of decentralized finance (DeFi) and beyond. As development progresses, these efforts will likely help Ethereum maintain its position as the leading blockchain for decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts.