Tackling Multichain DeFi with Avocado

Dear Bankless Nation,

It’s been a chaotic news cycle, but crypto’s builders are continuing to ship.

Today, we look at Instadapp’s latest release, Avocado, and walk you through how it can streamline your onboarding to various dapps.

– Bankless team

Bankless Writer: William Peaster

Instadapp is a platform and protocol system that specializes in simplifying complex DeFi activities. For this week’s Tactic Tuesday write-up, we’ll dive into the basics of Avocado, Instadapp’s newest infrastructure release that’s all about making DeFi UX as simple as possible.

Goal: Learn how to begin with Avocado
Skill: Intermediate
Effort: 30 mins. to start
ROI: Experience with a next-gen smart wallet

Instadapp, one of the oldest and most successful DeFi portal projects, has a history of contributing significant innovations to the space.

For example – and let me pull out my cane here real quick – in Nov. 2019 the team released its SAI-to-DAI Migration Bridge, which made it easy for Maker and Compound users to migrate to the Multi-Collateral Dai (MCD) system, a huge shift in DeFi at the time. And, I remember when they launched DeFi Smart Accounts (DSA) in April 2020, an extensible platform that made it relatively simple for developers and users to enjoy a single interface suitable for all of DeFi. And I remember their ensuing roll outs of the DeFi Smart Layer infra and Instadapp Lite, too.

All of these resources have been steps forward for DeFi in simplifying the UX around complex transaction possibilities. Because of this history, then, you should take note of Avocado, the newest release from Instadapp that’s aimed at totally streamlining the UX of using DeFi across multiple blockchains.

🥑 Avocado 101

UX remains a challenge across much of web3, and the DeFi ecosystem is no exception here. In particular, many users still struggle with managing positions across multiple networks and dealing with fragmented liquidity.

Here, cue in Avocado.

Avocado is Instadapp’s new smart contract wallet system that allows for multi-network transactions via an in-built account abstraction utility, all while connected to the new and singular Avocado network. Importantly, this design eliminates the need for constantly switching between different chains, which in turn makes transactions simpler and more streamlined.

In linking up to the Avocado network, a deterministic smart contract is created that is algorithmically connected to your wallet in non-custodial fashion.

Accordingly, when you transact with your Avocado wallet you enjoy the same level of security as directly using your target chains, but the transactions take place on Avocado with considerably streamlined UX. Additionally, every Avocado transaction uses USDC for gas, which eliminates the need for having to manage multiple native gas tokens (e.g. ETH, MATIC, CANTO, etc.) across various networks.

Ultimately, then, note that Avocado offers three key abstractions: Account Abstraction (i.e. your account doubles as a programmable smart contract), Gas Abstraction (i.e. USDC for gas, anywhere), and Network Abstraction (i.e. no need for switching between networks to transact).

How to begin with Avocado

Instadapp’s Avocado system is already live, so you can already go ahead and create your account and connect to the nascent Avocado network. To proceed here you could follow these steps below:

1️⃣ Go to avocado.instadapp.io

2️⃣ Connect your desired wallet

3️⃣ Use the “Switch Network” prompt to your wallet to switch over to the Avocado network, and press “Approve”

4️⃣ After connecting, you will see an “Import” pop-up that will let you begin importing assets from your main wallet into your Avocado wallet

5️⃣ You’ll then arrive at a new onboarding UI, where you’ll press “Connect” to get started; you’ll then be allowed to select which tokens and from which chains you’d like to deposit from, like so:

6️⃣ Once you press “Deposit” on your coin of choice, you’ll be prompted to switch back to the originating network to begin; then input how many tokens you’d like to import, e.g. 100 USDC for gas, and press “Deposit” again to complete the ensuing transaction

7️⃣ With your deposits finished, you’ll be able to review your balances back on the main Avocado user dashboard; below you can see how 0.1 WETH and 100 USDC have been imported from Ethereum into an Avocado wallet, for instance

8️⃣ Now you’re ready to start going multichain; at this point you can then use the “+ Connect Dapps” button and WalletConnect to connect to your desired DeFi app on any of the 7 currently supported chains (Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, BNB Chain, Avalanche and Gnosis)

9️⃣ For example, you could copy over a WalletConnect link from, say, Polygon’s QuickSwap DEX and then approve the connection; you will then see a “Deploy Now” prompt on Avocado that will take you to a UI for deploying your Avocado wallet on your target chains, e.g. Polygon in the case of Quickswap

🔟 Once your gas is topped up and your Avocado wallet is deployed where needed, you’ll be able to start plugging into whatever DeFi apps you like and use the USDC-based Avocado system to simplify and consolidate all your different DeFi activities across chains into one user-friendly hub

At this point, keep in mind that Avocado is brand new, so not all DeFi apps are totally compatible right now (list here). Also, be on the lookout over time as the Instadapp team plans to roll out further Avocado features like in-built DeFi strategies, one-click balance unification (e.g. buying MATIC on Polygon with the USDC you hold on Ethereum), an address-based roles system, 2FA security, and beyond.

Instadapp’s Avocado is a promising step forward in the evolution of DeFi, offering a powerful smart contract wallet with consolidation benefits today and upcoming advancements like DeFi balance unifications and cross-chain executions.

If the future of DeFi really is one where users don’t have to closely mind what chains and tokens they transact with, then it looks like Avocado is an important leap in that direction in the here and now.