Why Now? How DeFi's Evolution Made GlueX Possible

This is the final article of our “GlueX Foundations Series”. A series in which we introduce our journey, the vision of our team and our role in DeFi.

“Towards GlueX Protocol: Simplifying DeFi Through Verticalized Abstraction”
“One-Click UX: The Path to Simplifying DeFi”
“Why Now? How DeFi’s Evolution Made GlueX Possible”

The story of decentralized finance (DeFi) is one of continuous evolution. Over the past decade, it has passed through three pivotal eras, each marked by progress and innovation. However, these advancements have not come without challenges, especially in addressing the barriers to mass adoption. Robust abstraction layers like GlueX Protocol represent the next step in this evolution—solutions designed to simplify and unify DeFi in a way that no previous era could achieve.

The Evolution of DeFi: A Brief Recap

Genesis Era [2009-2013]: The Birth of Programmable Blockchains

DeFi began with the creation of Bitcoin, the first blockchain, which introduced the concept of a decentralized and immutable ledger. This laid the foundation for a financial system that could operate without intermediaries. Ethereum followed, enabling smart contracts—programmable agreements that allowed developers to build decentralized applications on the blockchain.

Key Achievements:

Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) model demonstrated the feasibility of decentralized, trustless transactions.
Ethereum’s smart contracts introduced programmability, creating the first opportunities for decentralized finance.

Limitations:

Bitcoin was limited to basic transaction functionality, making it unsuitable for broader financial use cases.
Ethereum, while more versatile, faced scalability challenges that made transactions slow and expensive.
Blockchains operated as isolated ecosystems, preventing interoperability.

Zero-to-One Era [2013–2018]: The rise of DeFi protocols

During this period, DeFi moved from theory to practice with the emergence of protocols and applications that redefined how financial services could operate. Decentralized exchanges (DEXs), lending platforms, and stablecoins demonstrated the programmable potential of blockchains.

Notable Innovations:

DEXs: Platforms like Uniswap enabled trustless, peer-to-peer trading through automated market makers (AMMs).
Lending Protocols: Aave and others offered decentralized lending and borrowing, bypassing traditional financial intermediaries.
Stablecoins: USDT and USDC introduced stability in a volatile crypto market, making DeFi more practical for users.

Challenges:

High Fees: The rising popularity of Ethereum strained its infrastructure, leading to exorbitant transaction costs.
Failed Transactions: Users faced situations where transactions failed but still incurred fees, eroding trust.
Fragmentation: Isolated protocols created inefficiencies, with users needing to navigate between platforms and chains.

Fix-it Era [2018–2024]: Infrastructure Improvements

The Fix-it Era focused on resolving core infrastructure issues in DeFi. This period saw significant advancements, including improved scalability, faster transaction speeds, and more secure systems. However, these fixes often addressed specific problems in isolation, resulting in a fragmented ecosystem that lacked cohesion.

Major Advances:

Scalability Improvements:
- Migration to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains reduced energy consumption and improved transaction throughput.
- Layer 2 (L2) Scaling Solutions, such as Optimism and Arbitrum, reduced fees and sped up transactions.
Security Enhancements:
- Measures to combat Miner Extractable Value (MEV) attacks helped protect users from unfair losses.
- Intents-based architectures and solvers abstracted complexity for users and improved execution quality.
Cross-Chain Interoperability:
- Bridging protocols allowed assets to move across chains, though often with significant risks.

Persistent Issues:

Fragmentation and Complexity: Solutions were developed in silos, leaving users to navigate a maze of isolated protocols, chains, and platforms.
Lack of Interoperability: No interoperability among different bridging and intent protocols, leaving developers to deal with complex protocol-specific nuances.
Steep Learning Curve for Users: DeFi’s growing complexity made it challenging for average users to participate, requiring significant technical knowledge and manual effort to interact with protocols across different chains.

Note: The names for each of these eras—Genesis Era, Zero-to-One Era, Fix-it Era, and Everything-Abstraction Era—were coined by us to describe the stages DeFi has gone through. While these phases are widely recognized in terms of the changes they brought to the ecosystem, we have formalized these labels based on our experience and observations in building abstraction infrastructure over the past three years.

The Everything-Abstraction Era: A New Frontier for DeFi

We are now entering the Everything-Abstraction Era, a transformative stage where DeFi evolves from a fragmented and complex ecosystem into an intuitive and seamless financial network. This phase addresses the critical barriers that have prevented DeFi from achieving widespread adoption.

The key achievements that will define the contributions of this era are:

Invisible Infrastructure: DeFi users no longer need to navigate gas fees, blockchain choices, or fragmented liquidity. Complexities that once created friction are now hidden, making interactions as simple as using a traditional financial application.
DeFi Unification: Fragmentation across chains and protocols has long been a challenge. The Everything-Abstraction Era unites these systems into a seamless ecosystem, powered by robust abstraction layers like GlueX. Developers can now build applications that operate fluidly across the entire DeFi landscape.
Reduced Complexity: Decision-making processes, like choosing between chains or stablecoins, are done on behalf of the user to simplify their on- and off-ramping experience.

For new users, this means stepping into DeFi without needing to learn about blockchains, wallets, or protocols. They can focus solely on their financial goals, whether it’s growing their savings, earning yield, or participating in lending markets. For seasoned users, it offers efficiency and a streamlined interface that eliminates redundant tasks.

Why This Moment is So Important to Us

For us, building GlueX has never been just about solving individual problems—it’s about addressing the bigger picture. We’ve been part of DeFi’s evolution since its early days, witnessing both its potential and its limitations. Over the years, we’ve seen many teams focus on isolated pieces of infrastructure: bridging, intents, data aggregation. But no one has truly brought these elements together into a unified solution.

That’s why we’ve taken a different approach. Rather than relying on fragmented services, we’ve developed and are continuing to build our own versions of these critical components. In some areas, like bridging and intent protocols, we’re exploring ways to improve existing solutions and build our own tools where necessary. Our goal is to create a unified solution that will make cross-chain and cross-protocol interactions seamless.

We’re excited to share this journey with the community and encourage developers and users to explore and make use of the tools and APIs we’re building to simplify their DeFi interactions. DeFi now has the potential to move beyond fragmented infrastructure into a phase of everything abstraction. The next frontier is about creating intuitive, reliable experiences that users don’t need to think twice about—and we’re here to support that transition.

What We’re Bringing to the Table

We’ve poured our energy into building a protocol that helps DeFi transition from fragmented infrastructure to seamless user experiences. While many foundational improvements have been made in DeFi over the past few years, there are still critical gaps in user experience that we aim to address.

1. A Unified API Suite for Simplified Interactions

We’re building a comprehensive API suite that abstracts away the complexities of interacting with multiple blockchains and DeFi protocols. The current Router API and Exchange Rates API provide developers with the tools to build applications on +13 chains with less friction.

Future APIs will continue to expand this functionality, enabling developers to create dApps that work seamlessly across chains and protocols without needing to worry about the underlying technical details.

2. Improved Cross-Chain Interactions

One of our core goals is to make cross-chain interactions faster and more reliable. While current bridging solutions take between 4 to 15 minutes to complete transactions, we’re aiming to improve this dramatically through new bridging solutions integrated into the API suite. These enhancements will allow users to move assets across chains without delays.

3. Intents Composability for More Complex User Interactions

We’re working on expanding intent-based protocols beyond their current limitations. Our contributions will focus on intents composability, enabling users to express more complex requirements within a single settlement. For example, a user could submit an intent to trade, bridge, and lend in one action, reducing the need for multiple steps and improving the overall user experience.

Looking Ahead: What’s Next

We’re just getting started. Here’s what’s coming next:

2025 Roadmap Highlights:
- Q1: Finalize onboarding of protocol users to the Router and Exchange Rates APIs.
- Q2: Expand to non-EVM chains and integrate bridging protocols.
- Q3-Q4: Incubate the first batch of everything-abstraction dApps.
More APIs:
- The Router and Exchange Rates APIs are just the beginning. We’ll continue to release more APIs to simplify additional interactions across DeFi.
Incubated dApps:
- Expect to see real-world use cases built on our APIs that showcase the power of everything abstraction.

Building for the Future of DeFi

We’re not just another DeFi protocol—we’re part of a larger movement toward making DeFi accessible to everyone. By focusing on top-level abstractions and user experience, we’re excited to be playing a key role in the next phase of DeFi’s evolution.

The timing is right, the infrastructure is ready, and we’re here to help DeFi scale to billions of users.