Uniswap and Across Team Up On Standard For Cross-Chain Trades

Uniswap has joined forces with Across Protocol to propose a new API standard facilitating cross-chain trading.

ERC-7683 seeks to address liquidity fragmentation resulting from the steady increase in Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks by providing a “universal filler network” for facilitating cross-chain swaps. Uniswap tweeted about the standard on May 28, however, ERC-7683 was first articulated on the Ethereum Wizards forum in April.

Traders use ERC-7683 to sign a cross-chain order, after which their funds are escrowed into a settlement contract. Liquidity providers act as “fillers” competing to facilitate trade settlement at the best possible price. After a filler is selected, the trade is executed and funds are released.

The teams said the system offers reduced gas fees for traders and lowers the barriers to entry for fillers.

“When a protocol adopts intent-based execution, they are required to build, attract, and retain their own relayer or filler ecosystem,” tweeted Across Protocol. “ERC-7683 proposes that all cross-chain intents follow the same order structure so that a universal, shared filler network can fulfill transactions.”

“Today’s intents-based systems are fragmented, each with their own set of fillers and no unified cross-chain standard,” Uniswap said. “By implementing a standard, cross-chain intents systems can interoperate and share infrastructure.”

Work towards ERC-7683 comes as the number of blockchains continues to grow, posing challenges in the form of fragmented liquidity — where on-chain liquidity is disparately spread across multiple web3 networks.

L2beat, an on-chain data provider tracking Layer 2 networks, currently tracks the TVL for 55 active chains and lists 43 upcoming projects — a nearly 50% increase since the start of 2024

Bobby Ong, the co-founder of the web3 data platform, CoinGecko, tweeted the number of networks tracked by CoinGecko is expected to surpass 1,000 in 2024, up from 158 currently.

“Everyone is launching a chain,” Ong said. “At this rate, all major crypto apps will have their own rollup.”