Currently, practitioners are in a state of confusion, which may not be a form of reshuffling.
Interviewee: Isabella Yang, Co-founder of dappOS
Interviewed by: 1912212.eth, Foresight News
The cryptocurrency market has been continuously rising after the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike, and previously hotly debated issues have been set aside. Setting aside does not mean forgetting. Some unresolved issues often repeatedly trouble the entire industry. Therefore, ongoing discussions remain meaningful. What is the reason behind VC projects not taking over each other? The significant drop in token prices after the launch of high FDV projects has caused widespread dissatisfaction in the community. Where does the problem lie?
At its core, it is a series of stories and narratives that are constantly being packaged, leaving only speculation, selling off, and a slow decline. No project is genuinely considering how to solve user pain points. Over time, stagnation in industry development and exploration will lead to significant negative effects, with the wealth effect gradually waning, intensifying the community's opposition to projects, and increasing skepticism from both inside and outside the industry.
This time, Foresight News invited dappOS co-founder Isabella Yang to elaborate on the concept of "intention" and her thoughts on industry development. The so-called intention refers to the clear outcome that users are willing to pay for. The concept of intention is broader and more comprehensive than chain abstraction. Yang stated that currently, industry practitioners are in a state of confusion, which may be a form of reshuffling; ultimately, projects that only speculate without real value will be eliminated, while those with real users and solutions to genuine industry problems will remain and go further.
Foresight News: Many projects that received significant funding in the first half of the year have performed poorly in terms of token prices. Recently, many practitioners are pessimistic about projects that have gone through multiple rounds of institutional financing and have high valuations, even derogatorily referring to these "VC-type projects" as "VC plates." dappOS has also gone through multiple rounds of financing. What is your view on this perspective in the industry?
Isabella Yang: dappOS is indeed considered a VC-type project that has received multiple rounds of institutional investment. However, we do not pay much attention to this concept; we focus on user needs and aim to acquire real users through product iteration and improvement for more long-term and sustainable development.
The reason many retail investors dislike VC plates now is that many projects are merely speculating, inflating data, pushing for listings, and then selling tokens, without addressing user pain points, and even reverse PUA-ing users. This approach may have worked in the past, but now users understand this routine and are no longer buying into it. The confusion among many practitioners discussed at 2049 ultimately stems from the fact that the previous approach is no longer viable, and everyone is unsure of what to do next.
We have always disagreed with the tactics of many previous VC plates. dappOS has consistently focused on meeting the needs of real Web3 users, lowering operational barriers, and enhancing user experience. To truly bring Web3 into every household, we must make Web3 products as user-friendly as Web2, or even better. Although industry practitioners are currently confused, this may be a form of reshuffling; ultimately, projects that only speculate without real value will be eliminated, while those with real users and solutions to genuine industry problems will remain and go further.
Foresight News: We see that the TPS issue criticized in the last cycle has been resolved, yet Web3 still hasn't truly reached the masses, and user experience continues to be criticized. What do you think is the reason for this, and what is the solution?
Isabella Yang: I believe that while the TPS issue has been resolved, user experience is not just about TPS. Even now, the threshold for Web3 is still very high for the general public and new users. This can be broken down into three specific aspects:
- Excessive Knowledge Required for Operation
Using Web3 products requires mastering a lot of basic knowledge, especially technical details related to blockchain, which is not easy for ordinary users. For example, when users withdraw tokens from an exchange to a wallet, they need to select the correct chain, which can confuse beginners or even lead to withdrawing on the wrong chain. Additionally, if a user signs a transaction but finds it unsuccessful, they may need to understand gas fees and blockchain network knowledge. These technical barriers make the entry experience for Web3 less user-friendly.
- Lack of Clear Guidance, Leading to Abandonment
Many Web3 products assume that users already understand some professional concepts, such as gas fees and slippage. However, in reality, products often lack friendly onboarding guides and easy-to-understand documentation, causing users to get stuck during use and even ultimately abandon the product.
- High Costs and Slow Speeds
When new users start to get involved, they often find that operations in Web3 are more expensive and slower than in Web2 products. For instance, during peak times, ETH gas fees can reach several dollars, and Bitcoin miner fees can even exceed a hundred dollars. Some decentralized exchanges' swap operations can lead to losses of several dollars, and some products may require waiting over seven days for withdrawals. These inconveniences leave users with negative impressions after trying, leading them to abandon further exploration.
dappOS aims to make Web3 more user-friendly, allowing more users to easily enter this world. The goal of dappOS is to help users simplify operations through a Web3 operating system, reducing operational costs and improving execution efficiency. Users only need to clarify the results they want to achieve, and they can quickly and easily realize their goals without needing to gradually understand the complex technical logic of blockchain. This way, the user experience will be closer to Web2, and in most cases, users will not encounter long wait times or high fees.
Foresight News: In your view, what exactly is the so-called "intention"? Can you illustrate it with examples? I also noticed another emerging concept called "chain abstraction." Do you think the two are similar?
Isabella Yang: Intention mainly refers to the outcome that users want to achieve, which is a clear result that a user is willing to pay for. Related to this is the concept of "intention-centered," which means designing the interaction of Web3 products in a way that allows users to directly achieve their intentions without worrying about the specific execution process in between.
To illustrate "intention" and "intention-centered": Suppose I am already in my car, and my intention is the destination I want to reach; the traditional interaction method would require me to find navigation, shift gears, press the accelerator and brake, and steer the wheel myself; the intention-centered interaction method is like hiring a driver, where I tell the driver where I want to go, and they will drive me there. I do not need to worry about which route the driver takes or how to operate the car.
Speaking of chain abstraction, chain abstraction is an adjective describing a feature where users do not need to focus on details like gas fees and cross-chain operations. Therefore, we can see chains with chain abstraction, accounts with chain abstraction, and DApps with chain abstraction, all of which can omit these details. Intention-centered products inherently encompass the feature of chain abstraction because they do not want users to focus on the details related to the chain; however, the details that intention-centered aims to help users omit are not just chain-related but also include some usage details outside the chain, as well as how to help users minimize costs.
In simple terms, the concept of intention is relatively broader and more comprehensive, encompassing the feature of chain abstraction.
Foresight News: The name dappOS is quite nice, simple and memorable, and very meaningful. Does the "OS" in the name envision becoming an operating system for various dApps? Please introduce the composition and operational logic of the dappOS intention network.
Isabella Yang: Yes, the vision of dappOS is to become the Windows operating system for Web3.
Our current core product is the intent OS, which allows users to manage their assets and interact with various dApps across multiple chains easily and conveniently. Behind the intent OS is the support of the intention execution network, where every task a user wants to execute in the intent OS is transformed into an intention and submitted to the intention execution network. Professional service providers in the intention execution network will execute the user's tasks, and users do not need to worry about the specific execution details. If the service provider fails to execute the task successfully, the user can receive compensation from the money staked by the service provider.
This way, we can enable users to interact with Web3 applications simply and efficiently while ensuring their security. This is what we believe a Web3 operating system should do, and we are continuously expanding the ecosystem and optimizing products to provide the best user experience.
Foresight News: I saw a vivid analogy describing the user experience of the intention assets recently launched by dappOS as being as smooth as Alipay's "Yu'ebao." So, what exactly are intention assets? What are their real advantages?
Isabella Yang: dappOS intention assets allow users to earn returns while seamlessly using them on-chain like native assets, all under a decentralized and non-custodial premise. For example, if a user holds 1000 intentUSD, they can directly use intentUSD to open contracts on GMX without going through redemption or cross-chain operations like other interest-bearing assets; if they currently have no usage needs, they can still earn over 10% annualized interest on intentUSD.
You mentioned Yu'ebao; in fact, the advantage of intention assets compared to some previous on-chain financial products is similar to the advantage of Yu'ebao over ordinary money market funds. Ordinary money market funds may have instant returns, but the money in a money market fund cannot be used for direct consumption or transfer without going through a redemption process; and there may be a waiting period for redemption, and if you want to use it again after redemption, it may require additional transfers. The money in Yu'ebao not only earns money market fund returns but can also be used to purchase various items or transfer to others at any time. Some previous financial products that compared themselves to "Yu'ebao" were like money market funds, where users needed to redeem to use the money inside, while intention assets are more like true Yu'ebao, as intention assets can be used directly on-chain like ordinary assets, just like using money from Yu'ebao as if it were in a bank card for consumption.
Additionally, intention assets are inherently decentralized and non-custodial. Users can also mint and redeem intention assets directly within the on-chain contracts without needing dappOS's permission. The specific yield assets behind intention assets are also publicly transparent on-chain, unlike some financial yield products that are managed by centralized institutions.
Foresight News: How do you ensure the reliability of intention assets in terms of liquidity and security? What role does the intention execution network play in intention assets?
Isabella Yang: The security of intention assets is guaranteed by decentralized on-chain contracts. Firstly, the underlying intention assets consist of a series of underlying assets and essentially serve as a withdrawal voucher, allowing users to call the contract for minting and redemption without needing dappOS's permission. This aspect enables users to freely enter and exit without worrying that dappOS will prevent them from redeeming; on the other hand, even if a single underlying yield asset encounters issues, the impact on users is relatively small. Currently, our underlying yield assets are all major projects listed on Binance with a TVL of over $1 billion, such as Pendle, Bouncebit, and ethfi.
Intention assets can be used in various scenarios at any time, and they are supported by the dappOS intention execution network. When redeeming or using intention assets, you are essentially submitting a request to the intention execution network, which will have service providers execute your request. These professional service providers often have better execution methods than ordinary retail investors, such as obtaining low-cost loans in advance to cover the funds needed for user redemptions, and then redeeming as a large holder after gathering a certain amount of yield-bearing assets, thus avoiding slippage losses caused by low liquidity on-chain DEXs. The dappOS intention execution network essentially empowers users with institutional-level professional execution capabilities, providing users with a good experience in using intention assets.
Foresight News: How will your team ensure the long-term competitiveness of dappOS?
Isabella Yang: Firstly, dappOS is entering the intention track through technological innovation, and our technological advantage will always be one of our long-term competitive edges. Previous discussions and research on intention track protocols in the industry required focusing on service providers to break down clear and specific on-chain execution steps. However, this limits the space for service providers to leverage their advantages, resulting in few execution solutions that users cannot achieve themselves, with speed, costs, and user operations offering no real advantages, or even disadvantages, failing to truly address user needs. The innovative architectural design of dappOS's intention execution network abandons the breakdown of the execution process by service providers and focuses solely on the execution results that users want. This way, the solution space for service providers becomes larger, and competition among them allows users to enjoy lower execution costs and faster execution speeds.
In addition, dappOS also possesses a first-mover advantage in products, accumulating scale effects and network effects. Whether it is the intention execution network or the Web3 operating system, both have strong scale effects. The larger the scale, the more ecosystem cooperation projects there will be, and the more service providers there will be. Users will find that they can perform various operations they want on-chain within dappOS, with execution speeds increasing and costs decreasing. This, in turn, will motivate various project parties to collaborate with us. While there are indeed some other projects working on intention architecture that have received funding, they are mostly still at the conceptual stage and have a considerable distance to go before product implementation; whereas we have not only implemented our product but have also established a certain scale in the ecosystem, leading to an ever-widening gap in long-term development.
Foresight News: AI is also a hot topic in the industry right now. What is your view on the relationship between AI and dappOS?
Isabella Yang: The service providers of dappOS can be individuals or institutions, bots executing according to certain rules, or AI agents.
In fact, the architecture of the dappOS intention execution network and AI agents complement each other. The current issue users face with AI is that they cannot understand the specific behavioral logic of AI, leading to concerns about losses and a lack of trust in AI. However, dappOS's security mechanism focuses solely on results rather than processes, ensuring that users receive predefined compensation when AI fails to realize user intentions and causes losses. This allows users to enjoy the powerful capabilities of AI without worrying about incurring losses. At the same time, when AI becomes sufficiently powerful, the capability gap between AI-based service nodes and ordinary users will widen, leading to a complete abandonment of manual operations in favor of the dappOS intention execution network.
Therefore, dappOS plays a significant role in promoting AI's entry into Web3 and will also benefit from advancements in AI technology.
Foresight News: Can you share your future roadmap?
Isabella Yang: Our future plans will focus on two core directions:
First, proactively optimizing and expanding products to comprehensively and deeply meet user needs. We will delve into the unmet needs in the current market and launch revolutionary core products based on the intention execution network, such as "intention assets"; this is how we can gradually unleash the technological potential of the dappOS intention infrastructure and truly change the user experience.
Second, strategically expanding ecosystem cooperation and user base to build strong scale effects and network effects. We will continue to attract more top projects to join our ecosystem while rapidly expanding our user base, making our intention operating system an indispensable cornerstone in the Web3 world—just like "Windows for Web3," ensuring that every user cannot do without it and experiences the convenience and efficiency it brings.
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