Introduction to HOT Labs and Its Vision
Ishan Pandey: Welcome, Andrey, to our “Behind the Startup” series. It’s a pleasure to have you. As Co-Founder and CTO of HOT Labs, you’re at the forefront of some truly innovative cross-chain developments. Can you start by telling us a bit about your journey into the blockchain space and what specifically led you to co-found HOT Labs? Andrey Zhevlakov: My journey began three years ago when Petr Volnov and I aimed to create the ultimate mobile wallet for the NEAR blockchain. At that time, the ecosystem was still relatively new, and we recognized that in the rapidly evolving Web3 landscape, where numerous technologies coexist, it is essential to carve out a niche and excel in at least one area. Attempting to build a universally great product across all blockchains is an unrealistic goal. Through our development process, we discovered that users commonly face two significant challenges: safeguarding themselves from scams and the need to transfer their assets seamlessly between different chains as new projects emerge in various ecosystems (such as airdrops and memecoins). These issues became the focus of our solutions through the MPC protocol and HOT Omni, which ultimately led to the establishment of HOT Labs.
Understanding the Meta-Balance Concept
Ishan Pandey: The idea of a “meta-balance” is fundamental to HOT Omni. Could you explain the technical details of how this meta-balance functions on the NEAR Protocol and enables the transfer and exchange of omni tokens across chains like Stellar, TON, Solana, and NEAR? What were the main engineering challenges faced in achieving this interoperability? Andrey Zhevlakov: The meta-balance within HOT Omni serves as a single non-custodial balance that resides on NEAR. It tracks users’ holdings across other chains, such as Stellar, TON, and Solana, not merely by monitoring but also by securely holding information about assets stored in trustless lockers. This meta-balance acts as the primary interface for users, eliminating the need to navigate to different chains, switch wallets, or pay transaction fees in various tokens. All transactions are processed through intents, with executors managing the rest of the process. Consequently, users can transfer, swap, or withdraw assets from a single platform without needing to consider the specific network their assets belong to.
Advantages of HOT Omni’s Unique Approach
Ishan Pandey: HOT Omni utilizes trustless lockers and an MPC + TEE network, drawing comparisons to THORChain. From a business standpoint, what are the most notable benefits this method provides to developers and users compared to other cross-chain solutions, particularly regarding security, efficiency, and capital requirements? Andrey Zhevlakov: Our MPC protocol offers extensive opportunities for users to manage their multichain accounts. It allows for modifications to the seed phrase, comprehensive two-factor authentication, and restricted access to specific smart contracts. This flexibility enables users to create and configure trading bots and safely delegate asset management to AI agents. Alongside HOT Omni, our network paves the way for Binance 3.0, a truly decentralized exchange.
The Implications of “Write Once, Deploy Everywhere”
Ishan Pandey: A core promise of HOT Omni is the capacity to write a smart contract just once in Rust, which can then interact with DeFi assets across multiple networks. This is a compelling proposition for developers. Beyond technical feasibility, what are the broader implications of this “write once, deploy everywhere” approach for the DeFi ecosystem and the adoption of decentralized applications? Andrey Zhevlakov: I believe this paradigm shift will lead to a gradual decline in reliance on centralized exchanges and chain-specific decentralized applications. This is a critical advancement for mainstream adoption. Currently, users must juggle various elements to access their funds, including navigating bridges, incurring gas fees, and using multiple wallets for different tasks. Presently, there are few tools available for developing applications that abstract chains, and we at HOT Labs aim to change that.
Common Misconceptions About Interoperability
Ishan Pandey: Interoperability is often referred to as the “holy grail” of blockchain technology. In your view, what are the most prevalent misconceptions regarding achieving true cross-chain functionality, and how does HOT Omni address these misconceptions with its distinctive strategy? Andrey Zhevlakov: A major misconception about cross-chain interoperability is the belief that token bridging alone is sufficient. In reality, merely transferring assets does not resolve the more profound issues related to user experience fragmentation. Users still have to manage multiple wallets, pay gas fees in various tokens, and navigate the complexities of each blockchain’s infrastructure. HOT Omni adopts a different strategy by introducing intent-based chain abstraction. Rather than requiring users to move tokens themselves, they interact with a unified meta-balance on NEAR that reflects assets secured across various chains. Actions like transfers, swaps, or withdrawals are expressed as intents, which executors then fulfill across networks. This model allows for practical interoperability without compromising decentralization or self-custody.
Challenges in Developing HOT Omni
Ishan Pandey: Building and scaling a complex platform like HOT Omni undoubtedly presents significant technical and operational challenges. What have been some of the most formidable obstacles you’ve faced in realizing this vision, and how has your team and technology navigated these challenges? Andrey Zhevlakov: One of the primary challenges has been standardizing the diverse array of standards, formats, and methodologies adopted by different blockchains. This necessitated a lengthy debugging process and multiple iterations to create a robust abstraction layer. Another critical issue that any cross-chain token bridge protocol encounters is ensuring transaction finality verification across various networks. Fortunately, our MPC network enabled us to address this swiftly, as we had previously built and tested it at scale with millions of users relying on it. However, I believe the most significant challenge lies ahead: promoting the technology and attracting developers and projects. We already have a functional SDK and our first technical partners utilizing our protocol for real-world applications, such as NEAR.Intents. To truly establish ourselves as a foundational element of cross-chain infrastructure, we need to expand our developer ecosystem and community engagement.
Future Plans and Partnerships for HOT Omni
Ishan Pandey: Looking ahead, what strategic partnerships and ecosystem integrations are you prioritizing to further enhance the utility and reach of the HOT Omni platform? How do you envision HOT Omni evolving to support an even broader range of blockchain networks and DeFi primitives in the future? Andrey Zhevlakov: Our immediate focus includes refining the SDK for interaction with HOT Omni and the MPC protocol, as well as developing a fully-featured chain-abstraction DeFi exchange independent of our wallet. Regarding future partnerships, we believe in the importance of collaborating not only with major blockchains but also in bridging chains that have comparatively low liquidity with top-tier blockchains. This also includes numerous Layer 2 networks that require reliable bridging solutions and additional ecosystem development. Naturally, we are also keen on integrating new, specialized chains into our protocol, such as Sui and Aptos.
