ENSO: Building On-Chain Shortcuts, The Next Frontier of Blockchain

Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Wenser (@wenser 2010)

By 2025, the AI agent field has become the biggest hot spot in the market. Various types of AI agents and their tokens are highly sought after. At the same time, thanks to AI technology, the entry barrier for blockchain developers has been greatly reduced, and development efficiency has also significantly improved. However, many challenges still exist in the fragmentation of the blockchain ecosystem and the complexity of protocol-level integration operations. Many developers and users still face common industry problems, such as cumbersome operational steps, extremely high learning costs, and complex technical implementation paths. In the increasingly fragmented liquidity of the AI era, the encryption industry urgently needs a comprehensive ecosystem solution.

Currently, the Intent Network is considered to be the next frontier in addressing this situation, and the Intent Engine ENSO, with its more revolutionary ‘Shortcut’ technology concept and more practical solutions, has pointed out a new direction for industry development. Odaily will provide a detailed introduction to the existing difficulties in the encryption industry, the Intent Shortcut Engine ENSO, and its advantages in this article for readers’ reference.

New Solution to Industry-Level Challenges: Introducing ENSO Shortcut

According to DeFiLlama website, currently there are numerous DeFi protocols deployed on over 300 blockchain networks, with over 70 on Ethereum L2 alone. The fragmentation of the ecosystem not only leads to scattered liquidity, but more importantly, blockchain developers and ordinary users are faced with the industry-level challenge of ‘operational complexity’.

For blockchain developers,

First, it is necessary to write independent smart contracts and network interfaces for each blockchain network;

Secondly, there are significant technical barriers between different blockchain networks, protocols, and applications, which require developers to invest a large amount of resources in multi-chain integration and development maintenance;

In addition, the high time cost is also an important factor that hinders blockchain developers from launching new products, trying new technology routes, and exploring new markets.

For blockchain users, they need to perform a series of cumbersome on-chain operations to participate in DeFi deposits, liquidity mining, NFT purchases, AI application experiences, etc. This not only involves asset security risks but also time and energy costs, as well as the problem of low operational efficiency.

In addition, the problem of ecological fragmentation also affects the mass adoption of the blockchain world. After all, for users who have never been in touch with the blockchain world, in addition to the complicated concepts, the wear and tear of on-chain transaction fees and complex operation processes also make people hesitate.

It is no exaggeration to say that the above-mentioned issues have become a huge obstacle to the popularization of blockchain applications.

**With this in mind, the Intent Network and ENSO, which focuses on the concept of “shortcuts”, were born. **

ENSO Redefines ‘Intention’: The core value of shortcuts

The concept of ‘intention network’ may still be unfamiliar to many people. In short, in the world of blockchain, ‘intention’ can be understood as a collection of on-chain target operations that users hope to achieve. For example, many users hope to complete a series of complex DeFi operations (such as collateral, borrowing, re-staking, etc.) with as few steps as possible, but are limited by the current on-chain operating conditions and cannot do so in one go.

ENSO’s shortcut is designed to solve this problem. Users only need to specify the final ‘intended’ result, and various use case products driven by ENSO can help find the best implementation method and complete the execution operation, truly achieving ‘one-stop operation’ through ‘on-chain execution’.

With the help of ‘Shortcut’, the on-chain interaction method is expected to be redefined.

ENSO: A Shared Engine for Developers

If the intent network is the ultimate goal, then ENSO is the driving force behind this network - by simplifying the execution process of intent results, helping users complete complex on-chain operations with fewer execution steps and resource consumption. This achieves one-click connection of multiple on-chain operation links, breaks the fragmentation restrictions of ecology and liquidity, helps developers reduce development costs, and improves users’ product experience.

If there is a “final destination” in the world of the chain, then ENSO is like an intelligent navigation system that can automatically plan the best travel path according to the destination, so that developers and users do not need to pay attention to the situation of “every turn, every road” - that is, they do not need to consider too much about the platform front-end functions called in the chain operation process, smart contract execution and chain result confirmation, etc.

Specifically, ENSO can help blockchain developers abstractly map all on-chain data and executable files to a shared engine, thereby achieving effects such as no manual integration of various protocols, coordination of all smart contracts in different ecosystems, and avoiding expensive audit fees—all intermediate links can be tested in advance and finally deployed to the blockchain network. As a result, developers can focus on product, community, and data growth.

The three core advantages of ENSO include:

• Simplified operation: Combining multiple on-chain operations into an “intent”, which can be completed with “one-click execution” to reduce operation complexity;
• Efficient Execution: With optimized technical architecture and smart contract design, it reduces development resource consumption and development time cost;
• Network effect: Support multiple protocols, multiple blockchain ecosystems, and cross-chain operations to facilitate developers and users, and leverage the synergies of the ecosystem.

On-chain Intent Shortcut Engine Diagram

Application Direction: Spanning across AI, intent execution, asset management, and DeFi fields

According to the official website, ENSO’s API has gained trust and usage from over 60 applications, involving more than 180 protocols, and has facilitated over 13 billion USD worth of on-chain settlements, greatly simplifying the previously slow and complex on-chain operation process. Specifically, ENSO’s application areas include the following aspects:

• AI Integration: Combining blockchain with artificial intelligence to automate the deployment and adjustment of smart contracts. For example, BrianKnowsAI, an AI-driven on-chain solution, utilizes the ENSO engine to perform complex data analysis and intelligent decision-making, improving user experience.
• Automated Operations: Automate on-chain processes to avoid manual intervention. For example, Onplug achieves the automatic execution of on-chain contracts through ENSO; Glider facilitates user liquidity management through automated fund scheduling.
• DeFi operation: Complete complex liquidity mining, asset migration, and risk hedging operations with one click through ENSO. For example, the aggregated trading platform CowSwap uses ENSO to realize user-defined complex trading intentions, saving users trading costs and optimizing execution efficiency.
• Asset Management: Provide users with one-stop management of multi-chain assets, supporting cross-chain interoperability and smart allocation strategies. For example, Velvet has created a one-stop asset management tool through ENSO, making it convenient for users to manage their assets dynamically.

In addition, in terms of expanding the blockchain ecosystem, ENSO, together with Berachain, Royco, LayerZero, and Stargate, has launched the pre-release liquidity platform Boyco, which provides integration and execution services for the Berachain DeFi ecosystem, greatly reducing the user’s intermediate operational costs. In other words, ENSO empowers Boyco to obtain initial liquidity from users and enables it to interact with numerous protocol applications, including Beraborrow, SatLayer, Bedrock, Ethena, Solv, Usual, etc., helping users to obtain rewards by providing liquidity through shortcuts.

ENSO Intent Shortcut Engine Demo

In the field of intentional networks, compared to other projects that remain on paper, the usability of ENSO, which focuses on the concept of “shortcut”, has been fully verified.

ENSO Behind: Experienced Team and Strong Capital Support

Since its establishment in 2021, the ENSO team has been composed of multiple technical experts and senior practitioners in the blockchain industry, including:

• Connor Howe, CEO and co-founder, has been fully committed to the blockchain industry since 2016, and previously published one of the first Ethereum research papers in the UK. Before founding ENSO, he worked at the world’s first licensed digital asset bank - Swiss Sygnum Bank, and was involved in setting up the blockchain department. During his tenure, he was involved in developing over-collateralized stablecoins, asset tokenization tools, multi-signature wallets, and built internal cold and hot wallet solutions. It is reported that the assets held in the related wallets exceed 50 billion US dollars.
• Peter Phillips, CTO and co-founder, also joined the blockchain industry in 2016, previously providing technical support for the Aragon project through Autark, and providing blockchain technology support for clients such as DuckDuckGo and Mozilla, he is an experienced technical expert.
• Milos Costantini, core developer and co-founder, previously built validator infrastructure for Swisscom Blockchain, Switzerland’s largest telecommunications company, and participated in the creation of the blockchain department.

An experienced team has brought deep technical expertise to ENSO, as evidenced by its detailed whitepaper, attracting the attention and support of many well-known investment institutions - including Polychain, Multicoin Capital, and Cyber Fund, providing strong financial and industry resource support. In June 2024, ENSO raised $4.2 million in its latest round of financing led by Ideo Ventures and Hypersphere. In 2021, it completed a $5 million private placement round led by Polychain Capital and Dfinity Beacon Fund. Other investors include Multicoin Capital, P2P Capital, Spartan Group, Zola Global, The LAO, as well as angel investors from Status, Synthetix, Fantom, Nexus Mutual, Aave, and Messari.

Luxurious investment lineup behind ENSO

In the current situation where the concept of ‘intention network’ has not yet been widely popularized, only project teams with a long-term perspective and strong capital institutions dare to invest in ENSO. Through channels such as user education, community operations, and partner promotions, they promote the multi-scenario application and ecological expansion of blockchain shortcuts.

Fortunately, ENSO has made many efforts in user guidance strategies: On the one hand, it has opened various developer tools and documents to reduce the learning curve and product integration for developers; On the other hand, it is expected to launch an “intent operation tutorial guide” in the future, using visual interfaces and frontend simulators to facilitate user understanding and usage.

In addition, cooperation with ecosystems such as ZKSync and Berachain, as well as well-known projects, will further drive the value discovery of ENSO’s Intent Shortcut Engine, achieving win-win cooperation through practical application scenarios.

The Ambition of ENSO: A “Shortcut” to the On-chain World

Undoubtedly, as a ‘shortcut’ in the blockchain ecosystem, ENSO is not just a tool, but also a new paradigm of operation.

In the future, with the technological iteration and ecological expansion of ENSO, it is expected to become an important engine driving the popularization of blockchain, allowing every developer and user to more easily integrate into the blockchain world. If the blockchain ecology is the city of the future on the chain, then ENSO is undoubtedly an intelligent shortcut connecting major ecosystems and applications.

At that time, users will not be limited by the complex underlying logic of the blockchain. They only need to express their intentions and rely on ENSO and its integrated product network to achieve seamless on-chain interactions, intelligent and automated on-chain operations. The large-scale application of blockchain will become a reality.

Embracing the next 1 billion users, ENSO’s intent shortcut network will be a crucial step.

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