Base Azul multiproofs, ERC-8211 smart batching, LI.FI Intents, Vitalik's Sci-Fi pivot

#web3 #ethereum

Welcome to our weekly digest, where we unpack the latest in account and chain abstraction and the broader infrastructure shaping Ethereum.

This week: Base ships its first independent upgrade with a TEE+ZK multiproof system and confirms native AA is next; Biconomy turns the ERC-8211 smart batching standard into a TypeScript SDK; LI.FI launches an enterprise intents engine for stablecoin and RWA flows; and Vitalik steps back from technical essays to write fiction.

Base Launches Azul, Bringing Multiproofs to Coinbase's L2
Biconomy Ships Smart Batching SDK for ERC-8211
LI.FI Launches Intents Engine for Enterprise Cross-Chain Flows
Vitalik Pivots to Fiction and Floats a "Trust Dependency" Framework

Please fasten your belts!

Base Launches Azul, Bringing Multiproofs to Coinbase’s L2

Base activated Azul on mainnet on May 28, its first network upgrade built entirely on its own stack. The headline feature is a multiproof system that pairs Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) proofs with Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proofs, advancing the Coinbase-incubated L2 toward Stage 2 decentralization.

Either proof type can finalize a withdrawal independently, but when both agree, finality drops to as little as one day, far faster than the typical multi-day optimistic rollup wait. Crucially, permissionless ZK proofs can override permissioned TEE proofs if the two conflict, a design Base says meaningfully improves censorship resistance.

The upgrade also makes base reth the sole execution client and introduces a new consensus client, phasing out older software. Node operators must migrate to the new stack to stay in sync.

For AA and chain abstraction builders, the more important signal is what comes next: Base confirmed its end-of-June upgrade will include native account abstraction, an enshrined token standard and Flashblock Access Lists. The largest L2 by activity moving toward native AA is a meaningful pull on the whole ecosystem.

Biconomy Ships Smart Batching SDK for ERC-8211

Biconomy released the Smart Batching SDK, a TypeScript library that makes the ERC-8211 “Smart Batching” standard usable without writing any Solidity. It targets one of the most persistent pain points in batched execution: static batches that break when on-chain state shifts between signing and execution.

The core primitive is runtimeBalance(), which resolves values at execution time rather than at signing. A swap-then-supply flow can swap USDC for WETH, then approve and deposit the exact amount received, even though that amount isn’t known when the batch is signed. Constraints like slippage guards are encoded into the batch itself and enforced atomically on-chain.

This unlocks patterns that were previously awkward or impossible with static batches: dustless full-balance sweeps, ERC-4626 vault migrations across share-rate drift, approve-with-cleanup flows, and predicate-gated cross-chain execution where a destination batch waits on a condition before a solver submits it.

For builders, this is the kind of tooling that turns multi-step DeFi UX into a single signed UserOperation, without forcing developers down to the contract layer.

LI.FI Launches Intents Engine for Enterprise Cross-Chain Flows

LI.FI launched LI.FI Intents, a modular execution engine that fulfills orders through a network of professional market makers, solvers, competing to provide the best execution. The launch targets enterprises bringing stablecoin payments, real-world assets, and compliant liquidity onchain.

For payments, the engine delivers exact-output execution: send 100 USDC and the recipient receives 100 USDC or USDT with zero slippage on 1:1 swaps. Flows are gasless, with solvers fronting execution on the destination chain and routing across all major chains, including non-EVM networks like Tron and Solana.

The compliance angle is the differentiator for institutions. Integrators get full control over solver selection, including access to KYB’d solvers, verified legal entities rather than anonymous counterparties, with OFAC screening built in. Regulated firms no longer have to choose between compliance and efficiency.

LI.FI Intents is already live across apps like Jumper and wallets like Rabby, built on the infrastructure behind 1000+ enterprise integrations. For chain abstraction builders, it’s a clear signal that intent-based execution is becoming the default interface for cross-chain UX.

Vitalik Pivots to Fiction and Floats a “Trust Dependency” Framework

On May 27, Vitalik Buterin announced he is pausing his long-form technical essays to write a science fiction novel exploring decentralized governance and DAOs. He shared the news on Farcaster, noting the first two chapters are already published on his personal site.

The same day, Buterin posted a concept that resonates directly with AA and wallet security work: that in an ideal world, all software and hardware would carry “nutrition labels” listing their full set of trust dependencies, what mathematics and whose honest behaviour, on what time scale, a system relies on for its guarantees.

For account abstraction, that framing is more than philosophical. Smart accounts, paymasters, bundlers, and cross-chain solvers each introduce their own trust assumptions, and making those explicit is exactly what standards like ERC-7730 clear signing and modular registries aim toward.

The pivot also lands amid ongoing Ethereum Foundation turbulence, following Buterin’s recent post on a leaner EF focused on censorship resistance, openness, privacy, and security, values that map closely onto the infrastructure AA builders depend on.