TL;DR Gateway streamlines the developer experience for deploying Universal Apps that operate natively across any blockchain including Bitcoin. Discover Gateway, and start building!
At ZetaChain, our mission is to build a Universal Blockchain with native access to any blockchain, making crypto as accessible, diverse, and connected as the internet. Today, we’re excited to announce a major upgrade to the developer experience for building Universal Apps with Gateway — a new interface that advances ZetaChain’s vision to become the Universal Entrypoint to the decentralized world.
Key Takeaways
- Apps on the Universal EVM (Universal Apps) can natively access any blockchain, including Bitcoin, and be accessed directly from those chains without requiring users to switch networks.
- Gateway introduces a unified hub and single API to streamline cross-chain interactions including the ability for Universal Apps to manage complex interactions with external native connected-chain contracts and assets in externally-owned accounts (EOAs) on behalf of users.
- Projects are actively developing new apps like Universal Yield and DEX Aggregators, which use Gateway to simplify complex multi-step operations into a single click for users e.g. accept native BTC lending/collateral into a vault on ZetaChain, borrow USDC on multiple chains against that collateral, swap and deposit into yield opportunities on those chains, and aggregate all rewards to a user’s account.
- Gateway natively supports new standards like Universal NFTs and Universal Tokens, empowering creators to issue cross-chain transferrable tokens and manage liquidity across chains in a single place without needing to go through the ZRC-20 protocol whitelisting process.
- Upcoming upgrades include the Solana integration with support for SPL tokens, making ZetaChain the first public L1 platform to support dApps that natively span all three major chains (Solana, Bitcoin, Ethereum) in a general and simple way.
Build Universal Apps, access users everywhere
A Universal App on ZetaChain’s EVM is not limited to a single blockchain; it operates seamlessly across any connected chain. Unlike regular smart contracts that only work on their own chain, Universal Apps can handle contract calls, messages, and token transfers from any chain — and can even initiate actions on those chains.
What does this mean for developers? Universal Apps allow you to orchestrate complex, multi-step transactions across different chains, all triggered by a single user action. No more juggling multiple interfaces or dealing with different blockchain protocols. ZetaChain’s platform gives developers the tools to automate cross-chain interactions so you can focus on your application’s core functionality and provide an abstracted experience that feels to the end-user like everything is in one place.
Gateway unifies developer and user experience
The Gateway upgrade introduces a unified, cross-chain interface — a single, universal entry point for developers and users to interact with Universal Apps on any blockchain.
Developer Benefits: A Simplified, Scalable Framework
- Unified API: Gateway minimizes complexity with a streamlined API that abstracts the intricacies of individual chain characteristics and protocols.
- Standardized Interactions: Each blockchain has a designated Gateway contract or equivalent (like a Gateway program on Solana or address on Bitcoin), providing standardized methods for depositing tokens and interacting with Universal Apps.
- Universal Remote for Cross-Chain Calls: With Gateway, interactions are as easy as pressing a button. For example, a single user transaction can trigger a Universal App on ZetaChain to send your BNB, swap for it for ETH, and then buy an NFT on Ethereum, in one step.
User Benefits: A Unified Experience for All Chains