User experience (UX) continues to be a big challenge in the crypto industry, posing a barrier to adoption across different generations. For many crypto users, the ability to perform on-chain transactions without worrying about which network is used would be a valuable UX upgrade — and some crypto startups want to answer this call. 

The idea that users should not realize when using blockchain, or chain abstraction, is one of the promises for a better Web3 experience. This concept drives Stripchain, an interoperability protocol that recently raised $10 million to enable chain abstraction at scale.

“Just like we don’t care about the back end system of Netflix, we should not care about the back end system of a decentralized application,” pseudonymous researcher "0xnovachrono," leading the protocol alongside Isa Sertkaya and Narayana Pryusty, told Cointelegraph. 

Sora Ventures led the Stripchain funding round, which included angel investors Santiago Santos, Frontier Research’s Stephane Gosselin, Messari’s Ryan Selkis, as well as venture capital firms Hyperithm, Shima Capital, Hypersphere, Mechanism and Ascensive Assets.

“Since we will have more and more L1s and L2s, for mass adoption, we need better UX to abstract the chain-specific knowledge. The biggest pain point for newcomers is the prior knowledge of different chains, VMs, key management, etc.,” noted a spokesperson for Sora Ventures.

The startup allows developers to create commands called intents to perform actions like transferring data between blockchains. Based on a system called stripVM, it will enable applications to communicate and coordinate with different protocols.

A key difference between the solution and other interoperability protocols relies on its focus on the transaction layer and the use of a proof of authority system. While earlier interoperability solutions targeted the protocol layer (such as Cosmos’ Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol) or the contractual layer via bridges, Stripchain facilitates data transfer at the user layer.

“As an industry, we have made giant leaps connecting values across blockchains using bridges, however, we have yet to connect monolithic applications across the execution layers of different systems,” said 0xnovachrono. Currently in private beta, Stripchain’s testnet is expected to launch in the next few months.

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