PayPal-backed Magic Labs and Polygon launch a new cross-chain network aiming to bust 'blockchain silos'

2024-11-09 18:36:59 Primitive Reading

From theblock by Daniel Kuhn

Ethereum ETH +3.88%and Magic Labs, a blockchain onboarding startup, announced Thursday that they are launching a new cross-chain network called Newton. The platform aims to make using decentralized apps across multiple blockchains as seamless as browsing the internet.

By leveraging Polygon’s decentralized AggLayer and Chain Development Kit, Newton will enable developers to build dapps that operate on different chains without requiring users to keep different wallets.

"Developers can now build user experiences that eliminate barriers," Sean Li, co-founder and CEO of Magic Labs, said in a press release. "Users should only care about transaction costs and speed, not which chain they are on."

The move marks a shift towards what Magic Labs describes as "chain unification," similar to the standardization across traditional financial systems like ACH or SWIFT. If the technological standard takes hold, it could help solve the issue of “blockchain silos,” which fragments liquidity and complicates the crypto user experience.

Magic Labs, known for pioneering the concept of “wallet abstraction” in 2018, will also integrate its bespoke, chain-agnostic, self-custodial crypto wallet Passport into Newton. The wallet provides a single interface for users, regardless of the underlying blockchain technology, making it seem like they have “one balance” across all Ethereum-compatible networks.

"Magic Labs has always focused on UX first, and with Newton, we're extending this to solve Layer 2 fragmentation,” said Jaemin Jin, co-founder and chief product officer at Magic Labs.

The late-stage startup, which has raised at least $82.9 million from heavyweights PayPal, Placeholder and Lightspeed as well as angel investors Naval and Balaji, among others, claims to have onboarded over 35 million users. Its onboarding tech has been tapped by dapps, including Polymarket and Helium.

As the name implies, Polygon’s Agglayer is a network of aggregated blockchains that uses Ethereum for security and as a settlement layer.

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