Introduction to Aspens Protocol

What is Aspens Protocol?

Aspens Protocol is an architecture for crosschain composability. It enables transfer and interoperability between blockchains, allowing assets, intents, and applications to move across chains.

Aspens Protocol provides a framework for crosschain communication that lets developers build applications that can access liquidity, data, and functionality across multiple blockchains.

Key benefits of Aspens Protocol include:

• Universal Composability: Build applications that interact with multiple blockchains as easily as with a single chain
• Secure Interoperability: All crosschain actions are cryptographically verified
• Extensible Design: New chains and protocols can be integrated without changing the core architecture

The First Service: Aspens Market Stack

Aspens Market Stack (AMS) is the first service built on Aspens Protocol. AMS is a crosschain trading system that lets users trade digital assets between blockchains.

Operators can deploy the stack independently, and developers can build applications on top of it without relying on centralized parties.

Key Features

• crosschain Trading:

  1. Trade (w)Bitcoin for Ethereum, or
  2. Trade USDt on Tron for USDC on Base, or
  3. Trade Solana memecoins for Cosmos ecosystem coins, or
  4. Trade EVM ERC-20 tokens for non Smart-Contract tokens like XRP, DOGE, LTC.
  5. You decide which chains and tokens to support

• Non-Custodial: You keep control of your assets until a trade executes - no third party holds your funds

• Independent Operation: Run your own stack on your own infrastructure with your own rules
• On-Chain Verification: Every trade is verified on both blockchains involved in the transaction
• Immutable Contracts: Smart contracts cannot be changed after deployment

Intents Based

For Ethereum and compatible chains, Aspens implements the ERC-7683 intents standard. This means:

• Apps built on Aspens can work with 40+ other chains using this standard
• A trade intent created on Arbitrum can be fulfilled through Aspens on Optimism
• Intents can be composed with other DeFi protocols for more complex operations

Chain Support

Aspens works with many blockchain types:

• EVM: Ethereum, Flare, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain
• Hyperliquid : Hypercore via HyperEVM
• Solana
• Move-based: Sui, Aptos
• Zero-knowledge: ZK rollups like zkSync, StarkNet
• Cosmos: Osmosis, Cosmos Hub, (ATOM)
• Upcoming: 0xMiden zkVM 'edge' chain

The Aspens Market Stack is designed so new chains and signature schemes can be added easily.

Start Building with Aspens

Here's how to get started:

• For operators: Follow our Operator Guide to set up your own trading stack
• For developers: Use the Application Developer Guide to integrate with existing stacks using gRPC
• For traders: Check the Getting Started guide to make your first crosschain trade
• For everyone: Learn the Core Concepts behind orderbooks and crosschain settlement

Architecture Overview

An Aspens Market Stack has these parts:

• Orderbook: Matches buy and sell orders across chains
• Contract Manager: Handles blockchain interactions
• Trading UI: Web interface for users
• APIs: For developers to build applications
• Security Layer: Protects against attacks and ensures trade integrity
• Journal: Records all trades for verification

For example, when a trader wants to swap ETH on Arbitrum for USDC on Optimism, the orderbook finds a matching counterparty, the contract manager coordinates the asset transfer on both chains, and the journal records the completed transaction.