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Super-Transactions: Empowering Web3 Automation with Ava Protocol

Chris Li

Chris Li

· 7 min read
Illustration showcasing Ava Protocol's super transactions for Web3 automation. The image features a digital store labeled 'NFT Store' with a cube marked 'NFT' above it. A pop-up interface highlights an automated buy order setting: 'If NFT is below 0.5 ETH, place buy order,' with a prominent 'Automate' button. The background is a dark starry sky with purple hues, enhancing the futuristic theme.

Building automated functions should be straightforward, but for web3 developers, it’s like trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces — until now.

Ava Protocol is pushing blockchain automation forward by enabling autonomous “super-transactions,” providing seamless, private, and composable automation for any smart contract function without needing to write code. Super-transactions have predefined triggers (time, price, on-chain events) and autonomously execute the intended actions when conditions are met.

This powerful automation engine frees developers from dealing with error-prone, insecure processes, allowing them to focus on improving their projects.

The Challenge

Currently, developers are innovating with duct tape. They lack integrated tooling, stitching together multiple services to automate their workflows, relying on makeshift workarounds like manual scripts and bots to manage private keys and execute pre-signed transactions. Or they spend costly time and resources creating dedicated infrastructure, only to face ongoing difficulty in maintaining and scaling it. This negatively affects their velocity, making it harder to meet KPIs and launch on time.

More importantly, it introduces critical vulnerabilities that threaten user assets and the survival of their projects. Private key exposures could lead to asset theft, while malicious actors could manipulate transactions in a block to extract maximum value. These pain points are a constant source of stress for developers, who must balance innovation against a persistent threat of security breaches. They contend with:

Limited Capabilities: Blockchains like Ethereum weren’t designed for sophisticated automation, hampering user experiences involving recurring actions (e.g., payments, trading, compounding, etc.).

Privacy Issues: A lack of privacy-preserving automation infrastructure exposes users to risks like front-running attacks due to the need to hand over private keys or pre-sign transactions.

Composability Restrictions: Complex smart contract interactions require extensive custom coding and integration across various services.

High Costs: On-chain automation is compute and gas intensive, making it cost-prohibitive for applications that involve high-volume transactions or micropayments.

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The Solution

Ava Protocol’s super-transactions address these problems by empowering web3 developers with out-of-the-box automation capabilities. Our automation solution relies on three key components:

Smart Wallet: Smart wallets, based on the ERC-6900 standard, offer a native approach that improves the web3 user experience. They feature minimal authorized access, gas-free creation, Web2 authentication compatibility (e.g., Google account authentication), and integration with existing wallets like MetaMask. Coinbase Wallet, for example, is a smart wallet that provides iCloud Keychain backup and biometric access. Smart wallets allow users to interact with various dapps and toggle access on/off without altering their primary account. Despite their potential to simplify blockchain interactions for users, smart wallets have yet to achieve widespread adoption. Ava Protocol aims to change this.

EigenLayer: EigenLayer’s architecture offers exceptional modularity by separating operators from actively validated services (AVSs). This separation allows for greater flexibility and scalability. By developing an event-driven activation AVS, Ava Protocol can capitalize on this modularity to enhance system efficiency and adaptability. EigenLayer’s trusted network of operators ensures robust performance and security, providing a reliable foundation for our automation solution.

Event-Driven Execution: Ava Protocol has developed proprietary event-driven execution technology, leveraging our deep experience with Polkadot. Our innovative approach utilizes private computation and storage, enabling seamless automation across various applications. The configuration of this system provides substantial flexibility, allowing users to whitelist specific smart contracts and define custom error-handling logic.

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These key components support out-of-the-box automation capabilities that are:

Intelligent: Fully autonomous execution relies on preset “if this, then that” conditions, such as market fluctuations, scheduled intervals, and specified actions.

Private: Account abstraction with secure smart wallets eliminates private key exposure and pre-signed transactions. Advanced MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) protection ensures transaction confidentiality.

Composable: Effortlessly combine smart contract calls without extensive coding, simplifying complex interactions like automated payment flows.

Cost-Effective: Super-transactions can reduce gas fees by up to 90% with off-chain computation, making blockchain technology more accessible and affordable.

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The Impact

Super-transactions open up possibilities for innovative use cases across DeFi, gaming, NFTs, and any application that requires automated web3 transactions or functions. With Ava Protocol, developers instantly gain powerful automation capabilities that accelerate development and enhance user experiences.

The frustration of cobbling together problematic workarounds is gone. Instead of spending hours writing and debugging code, they can focus on building unique features. By managing fewer complex integrations, they can streamline workflows and deploy more quickly.

These new opportunities for developers include:

  • Integrating autonomous DeFi trading strategies and compounding directly into apps.
  • Event-triggered automated NFT minting, updates, and distributions.
  • “Set-and-forget” subscription and recurring payment flows.

End users can enjoy powerful web3 experiences like:

  • Automated rewards compounding and DeFi yield optimizations.
  • Dynamic NFTs that evolve based on real-time data and events.
  • Automated distributions like airdrops or awards in web3 games.
  • Streaming/programmatic payments triggered by custom conditions.
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Super-transactions offer a superior alternative to centralized servers, bot networks, and compromised automation frameworks. They enable developers across any web3 vertical to efficiently build rich, automated capabilities that were previously out of reach. With Ava Protocol, the future of limitless blockchain automation is finally here.
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Chris Li

About Chris Li

Chris Li is the founder and CEO of Ava Protocol. Prior to establishing Ava Protocol, Chris gained valuable experience as a Messaging Protocol Engineer at Microsoft and as a successful serial entrepreneur. He is also a long-term EVM smart contract developer, Web3 Foundation grant recipient, and Polkadot core contributor.