Web3 onboarding has historically been challenging due to the fragmentation of apps, tools, and protocols, resulting in a disjointed user experience. As cryptocurrency adoption grows, the need for solutions that unify blockchain networks, simplify interactions, and improve accessibility becomes more pressing. Chain Abstraction has emerged as a crucial approach to address this issue by enabling seamless integration across multiple chains, improving the overall user experience.
Particle Network, a project focused on Chain Abstraction, embodies this approach. Initially launched as a wallet abstraction service, Particle Network has evolved into a modular layer-1 (L1) blockchain solution, currently in Testnet development. Its flagship product, Universal Accounts, seeks to streamline Web3 interactions by providing a unified account and balance system across all blockchains.
This review will cover Particle Network’s transformation, founding team, recent achievements, and roadmap. It will conclude with an analysis of the project’s strengths and challenges.
What is Particle Network
Particle Network is a modular layer-1 (L1) blockchain focusing on chain abstraction. It began as a wallet abstraction service in 2022 and has since evolved into a Layer-1 solution in Testnet development. The key offering, Universal Accounts, unifies all chains and abstracts Web3 complexities, enabling users to manage one account and balance across all blockchains. This move is part of a larger vision to simplify the Web3 experience.
Since its inception, Particle Network has partnered with over 60 chains and 900 dApps, offering infrastructure for projects like Ultiverse, Xterio, and Fusionist.
Products: Modular L1, Dual Staking, Modular Smart Wallet-as-a-Service, and BTC Connect
Before releasing their Modular L1 on testnet, Particle's Wallet Abstraction stack included two main products: Modular Smart Wallet-as-a-service and BTC Connect. Both currently serve over 4 million daily users across 56 chains, securing over $2B worth of users’ assets.
Particle Network launched its most ambitious initiative, Universal Accounts, at the beginning of 2024 to take its product offering to the next level. The team’s proprietary Layer-1 functions as the overarching coordinator for these, enabling the experience of Chain Abstraction so that Universal Accounts and all the features around them can run seamlessly. Universal Accounts, along with Universal Liquidity and Universal Gas, form the core functionalities provided by the Particle Network. Each aims to achieve chain abstraction by eliminating manual processes required for multichain interactions.
Below is an overview of Particle Network’s three core functionalities.
- Universal Accounts: Particle Network's Universal Accounts provide users with a single address and balance across multiple ecosystems, including heterogeneous blockchains like Bitcoin and Solana. This allows them to interact with dApps on any chain and simplifies the development process for deploying multi-chain dApps. Universal Accounts aims to unify multi-chain asset and account management, addressing the fragmentation of the Web3 ecosystem.
- Universal Liquidity: Universal Liquidity unifies the liquidity of all chains through the optimistic execution of multi-chain atomic transactions. This feature allows users to interact with new chains without holding tokens, further streamlining Web3’s user experience.
- Universal Gas: Universal Gas allows users to pay transaction fees with any token (e.g., PARTI, USDT, or USDC) from any blockchain, eliminating the need for multiple chain-exclusive gas units (e.g., SOL, ETH, MATIC). All transactions are settled on Particle Network through its native token, $PARTI.
Additional ProductsAggregated Data Availability (AggDA) and Dual Staking Model
Besides enabling Universal Accounts, the Particle Network L1 introduces several innovations that strengthen its functionalities to better achieve chain abstraction. This includes Particle Network’s Data Availability (DA), an innovation that aggregates data from multiple providers, such as Celestia, Avail, and NEAR DA. This strategy enhances the network's security and stability by avoiding single points of failure and ensuring that data remains accessible even if one provider experiences issues. By doing so, Particle ensures its network remains robust, efficient, and decentralized, providing a reliable foundation for managing complex blockchain transactions and maintaining state across Universal Accounts.
Modular Smart Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS)
As mentioned above, Particle Network started as a smart wallet services provider. Modular Smart Wallet as-a-Service and BTC Connect are Particle’s two existing products that were under this previous focus. Particle Network’s Modular Smart Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) stack enables developers to incorporate social logins for self-custodial, dApp-embedded smart contract wallets. This allows seamless onboarding and non-custodial key management. The WaaS stack supports ERC-4337 account abstraction, offering developers flexibility in implementing account abstraction (AA) within their dApps.
BTC Connect
Particle Network's BTC Connect is the first EVM-compatible account abstraction protocol for Bitcoin. It is supported by the largest Bitcoin Layer-2s, including BitLayer and BRC420. This product allows users to control an account on an EVM-compatible Bitcoin L2 using a standard Bitcoin Wallet. BTC Connect brings the benefits of account abstraction to the Bitcoin ecosystem, including:
Benefits of Bitcoin Account Abstraction:
- Enhanced UX: Simplified user interactions and transaction structures enable pop-up-less signatures, session keys, automated transactions, batched transactions, and other user-friendly features currently not available in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
- Improved Security: Users can leverage additional security measures, such as multi-signature schemes and complex conditional transaction criteria, enhancing safety.
Team, Fundraising, and Achievements
Particle Network was created in April 2022 and co-founded by Pengyu Wang and Tao Pan, both with backgrounds in mobile game development. Particle Network has raised $25 million across four rounds, with notable investors like Spartan Group, Gumi Crypto, Animoca Ventures, LongHash Ventures, and Alibaba Group.
In June 2024, the team raised $15M in a Series A Round led by The Spartan Group and Gumi Cryptos Capital, with participation from Animoca Brands, SevenX Ventures, HashKey Capital, Morningstar Ventures, and others.
The funds raised will continue to allow the team to spread its vision of chain abstraction and simplifying user & developer experiences. Going forward, the team is working on launching the Particle Network L1’s Mainnet and launching the Particle token $PARTI.
Our Analysis
Strengths
- Part of a Growing Chain Abstraction Narrative:
- Addresses key issues like difficult user experiences and blockchain fragmentation.
- Tackles Web3 complexities, such as seed phrases, verification, and asset transfers, improving onboarding.
- Unified Product Ecosystem:
- Universal Accounts, Liquidity, and Gas collaborate to facilitate Chain Abstraction, creating a seamless Web3 experience.
- Gas abstraction supports the $PARTI token, ensuring its utility in cross-chain transactions.
- Ecosystem Growth:
- Rapid expansion to over 60 chains and 900+ dApps.
- Initiatives like the Particle Pioneer Program have created a growing community and provided valuable user feedback.
Challenges
- Focus on Interoperability and Security:
- The team must ensure ease of use remains a priority, especially in a sector where security and interoperability are crucial.
- Continued development will be essential to maintain relevance and user trust.
What’s Next for Particle Network
In the upcoming months, the team will focus on the following;
- Q3 2024: Mainnet V1 launch with Universal Accounts, Universal Liquidity, and Universal Gas.
- Q4 2024: Testnet launches for Dual Staking and AggDA.
- 2025: Mainnet V2 with support for Dual Staking and AggDA.
Learn more about Particle Network:
🌐 Official website: particle.network/
🐦 Official Twitter: x.com/ParticleNtwrk
🕹️ Discord channel: discord.com/invite/2y44qr6CR2
📖 Blog: blog.particle.network/
