Anoma is a radically new layer 1 architecture for building full stack decentralized applications. Ever since Ethereum’s launch in 2015, which gave birth to the second generation of protocols that focus on programmable settlement, all proposals fall in the same category and are programmable settlement at best, with innovations in specific components. However, as shown by widely adopted applications on Ethereum, such as Uniswap or OpenSea, programmable settlement is not enough. It results in these applications relying on at least one component in their stack being fully centralized - this means that the current state of web3 is, in practice, web2.5 at best. Anoma offers a generalized architecture where functionalities like counterparty discovery and solving - among other novel primitives which are needed by dapps like the above - can function without requiring any centralized component.
With Anoma, you can build all contemporary dapps without centralizing any component, as well as novel dapps due to the new protocol primitives. Its unique architecture introduced a new paradigm for decentralized applications: a declarative paradigm for programming dapps.
The following are interview questions and answers with Awa Sun Yin.
I hear you are aiming to facilitate intent-driven coordination, why do you think this is important?
There are two main reasons why we picked an intent-centric architecture. Users have intents - expressions of their individual preferred state transitions. However, all architectures so far are transaction based or smart contract based. With the latter, for users to use these systems securely and privately, they have to understand not only how the protocol works, but also how all the intermediate smart contracts work and even audit them. This is a big burden and often results in users simply interacting with the systems without understanding the risks.
To compare with a real-world application, interacting with Ethereum dapps at the moment (imperative paradigm) is very similar to how we interact with the traditional financial system.
When you tap your credit card at a payment terminal, you’re pre-emptily authorizing a myriad of interactions under the hood (not just Visa or Mastercard and the merchant).
This model provides little to no assurance to users unless they fully understand how the underlying tech works.
In Anoma’s declarative paradigm model facilitated with user intents, users are only signing their desired end result and do not have to reason through the process. The protocol is designed to settle the intents as described or not settle them at all - providing way higher assurance, control and UX to users. Crucial for decentralized applications to reach mass adoption.
An intent-centric architecture is necessary to enable decentralized counterparty discovery and solving.
On coordination: Once you have this novel architecture and its primitives, this system provides 95% of what’s needed for any multiparty coordination mechanism - one where information is not compressed in unidimensional values (leading to over-financialization) but rather where users can actually transmit multidimensional expressions of preferences.
So you're attending BUIDL in Korea. Tell me about why this audience and this event are important for Anoma?
BUIDL Asia is the very first physical event in this geographical region ever since COVID-19 started. Unlike many conferences and blockchain weeks out there, BUIDL is a web3 conference with a specific focus on builders and technology. For Anoma, it is extremely important to be present so that the people working on it can gather feedback and reviews on the design of the protocol from other researchers, such as Vitalik Buterin from Ethereum or Mustafa Al-Bassam from Celestia, as well as teams building dapps. In alignment with Anoma’s vision toward sovereignty and privacy, Anoma needs to be present in diverse geographical locations to foster a global community.
