Coinbase Payments has joined the Open Intents Framework (OIF) as a core contributor, a major move to help standardize how assets move across Ethereum's fragmented landscape of Layer 2 networks. The initiative, launched by the Ethereum Foundation, aims to create an open and permissionless standard for cross-chain interoperability. By collaborating with over 30 leading projects, including the teams behind Arbitrum and Optimism, Coinbase Payments will help build out the infrastructure for "intent-based" applications, which are designed to make transacting across different Ethereum L2s a seamless, user-friendly experience.

• One of crypto's biggest players is joining a major collaborative effort to fix one of Ethereum's most frustrating problems.
• Discover the revolutionary "intent-based" paradigm that could make moving assets between blockchains as easy as telling a taxi your destination.
• Learn about the powerful, industry-wide coalition of competing networks that are working together to solve a shared challenge.

The explosion of Ethereum L2s—scaling solutions like Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync—has been a massive success for reducing transaction fees and congestion on the Ethereum mainnet. However, it has also created a new problem: a fragmented user experience. Each L2 operates as a semi-independent island, and moving assets between them often requires users to navigate complex, slow, and sometimes insecure third-party bridges. This friction is a significant barrier to mainstream adoption, as it makes the simple act of using different applications across the ecosystem a daunting task for the average user.

This is the core problem that the Open Intents Framework aims to solve through a powerful paradigm shift. Instead of forcing users to specify the exact, step-by-step process for a transaction (e.g., "bridge X amount of USDC from Arbitrum to Polygon via Y bridge, then swap for MATIC on Z exchange"), the intent-based model allows a user to simply declare their desired outcome, or "intent." For example, a user can just say, "I want to end up with 1 ETH on Optimism, and I'm starting with 1,700 USDC on Arbitrum." A network of specialized, off-chain actors called "solvers" then competes to find the cheapest and fastest route to fulfill that intent, abstracting away all the underlying complexity from the user.

The Open Intents Framework, which builds on standards like ERC-7683, provides the common language and open-source building blocks for this new system. Launched by the Ethereum Foundation in February, it offers a suite of modular components—standardized smart contracts, solver designs, and even UI templates—that any developer can use. This prevents each project from having to build its own bespoke intent infrastructure from scratch, fostering a shared and interoperable network. It’s a crucial step towards achieving genuine cross-chain interoperability.

The entry of Coinbase Payments into this initiative as a core contributor is a significant catalyst. As one of the largest and most regulated entities in the crypto space, Coinbase brings substantial resources, engineering talent, and a deep focus on user experience. This move is part of a broader strategy by the company to become a foundational infrastructure provider for the next generation of the web, a goal also seen in its recent collaboration with Google on an AI payments protocol. By helping to build these open standards, Coinbase is working to ensure that the future of on-chain activity is both user-friendly and secure.

This is a truly collaborative, industry-wide effort. The framework boasts over 30 contributors, including the core teams behind nearly all major Ethereum L2s. The participation of these often-competing projects signifies a collective recognition that a seamless user experience is a shared responsibility that benefits the entire ecosystem. This move toward self-regulation and standardization is a sign of a maturing industry, which could foster a more favorable environment from regulators, who have been calling for clarity, as seen in the recent joint SEC/CFTC statement.

Ultimately, the vision for the Open Intents Framework is to make the fragmented L2 landscape feel like a single, unified network. For a user, swapping an asset on one chain for an asset on another should feel as instantaneous and simple as browsing between websites. This level of abstraction is precisely what is needed to unlock mainstream use cases like e-commerce and gaming on the blockchain. The work being done on intents runs parallel to other efforts to simplify user interactions, such as the use of the x402 protocol for seamless AI agent payments, all pointing towards a future where the complexity of the blockchain is hidden from the end user.

FAQs

What is the Open Intents Framework?
The Open Intents Framework (OIF) is a collaborative, open-source initiative launched by the Ethereum Foundation. It provides a set of standardized tools and "building blocks" for developers to create applications that allow users to easily transact across different Ethereum L2s.

Why has Coinbase Payments joined this initiative?
Coinbase Payments has joined as a core contributor to help develop and standardize the technology. Their involvement brings significant resources and a focus on mainstream user experience to the project, accelerating the goal of seamless cross-chain interoperability.

What is an "intent" in this context?
An "intent" is a user's desired outcome, rather than a specific set of instructions. Instead of using a complex bridge, a user can simply state their goal (e.g., "swap Token A on Chain 1 for Token B on Chain 2"), and a network of "solvers" will automatically find the best way to execute it.

How does this benefit the average crypto user?
It dramatically simplifies the user experience. By using intent-based applications built on the Open Intents Framework, users will be able to move assets and data between different Ethereum L2s without having to interact with complex and often confusing bridging protocols.