Biconomy is launching Biconomy DAN (Delegated Authorisation Network) to enable the next revolution in crypto  - safely delegating on-chain activity to AI agents! 

With DAN, AI agents can 

👉 Authorise transactions on behalf of users 

👉 Only within user-defined scoped permissions 

👉 Leveraging the economic security of Eigenlayer AVS

‍

Let’s dive deeper to learn how DAN is bridging the gap for AI adoption to web3 by enabling secure AI delegation while maintaining self-custody.

‍

What is DAN?

AI projects operate by analysing user’s intents & building the desired batch of transactions. They can also execute these on the user’s behalf with Biconomy’s Delegated Authorisation Network While ensuring that these AI agents can only authorise transactions within strict, user-defined permissions by leveraging the robust security of EigenLayer AVS.

‍

Thus, essentially DAN is an off-chain authorization network designed to enhance the security, customizability & speed of managing authorization keys for smart accounts. By combining Silent Lab’s cutting edge MPC network with Ethereum’s economic security via EigenLayer, Biconomy DAN offers a secure and non-custodial solution for performing off-chain authorizations.

‍

Thus, DAN opens up tons of AI-powered use cases in web3 by ensuring the delegation is both i. programmable for any use-case and ii. cryptographically & economically secure. It brings the industry closer to the vision of AI acting as a trusted intelligence layer to simplify & augment user’s on-chain journey.

‍

‍

The Problems faced by AI projects

There’s a ton of upcoming AI & intent related projects in web3 with the mission of leveraging AI. The potential use-cases range from abstracting simple tasks to empowering AI agents to execute complex DeFi strategies to find you the best yield. However there are 2 main challenges that these AI agents face:

1. Currently AI agents can recommend on-chain actions and prepare transactions for the user, but still need the user to sign these or approve. Or they can execute simple transactions which are currently serviced by UIs. Thus, they can’t be truly autonomous.
   
   
2. One way to solve this is for the AI to have complete control of the user’s keys to sign multiple transactions on their behalf. But this is not safe. We need guard rails for the AI in the form of user-defined permissions - strictly defining what actions the AI is allowed to sign & which it does not have the authority to.

‍

‍

How DAN propels us towards an AI powered web3

That’s where DAN comes in by solving both these problems! 

‍

1. Delegate to AI: DAN It enables AI agents to perform actions on user’s behalf without requiring them to sign any transaction. It enables this by selectively allowing AI agents to have access to user’s ‘Delegated Auth’ keys stored on AVSs to authorise these transactions. But it doesn’t give complete control to the AI agents.
   
   
2. Programmable Authorisation: DAN also enforces that the AI agents operate under the guidance and constraints of user-defined rules and permissions. These permissions can be programmed to offer a wide range of constraints - limit the access to specific assets, define the maximum value, whitelist only specific contract addresses, limit the time duration and so on.
   
   
3. Secured by AVS: DAN decentralises the cryptographically secure storage of users’ keys & permissions, mitigating any risk of compromise. This ensures delegation is secured by leveraging Ethereum’s economic security via EigenLayer AVS node operators.

‍

Key Features and Benefits

‍
Features and benefits of Biconomy DAN stands out in the realm of decentralised authorization networks

‍

Superfast Signature Generation
The Silent Shard, an integral part of the MPC network, employs the DKLs23 protocol, which uses Oblivious Transfer (OT) functions instead of traditional cryptographic methods like Paillier encryption. This results in significantly faster computation times.

This means Biconomy DAN can generate signatures in the order of tens of milliseconds, ensuring rapid and efficient off-chain authorizations without compromising security. 

Highly Programmable Permissions
Permissions can be managed programmatically, allowing users to set specific limitations and permissions for their authorization keys. This adds a layer of control and security.

No additional gas fees
As the authorisation happens off-chain, DAN does not introduce any additional network costs.  

Off-Chain Authentication
Biconomy DAN utilizes a modular authentication structure, enabling various methods for user authentication, including Passkeys, social login, and Sign-In with Ethereum (SIWE). This flexible system allows users to authenticate seamlessly while ensuring high security.

EigenLayer Economic Security
By integrating with EigenLayer, Biconomy DAN leverages Ethereum’s robust economic security. Validators in the EigenLayer network restake their Ethereum holdings, which can be slashed in case of malicious behavior, thereby ensuring honest participation.

This setup provides economic guarantees and encourages trust within the network, as validators are financially incentivized to act honestly and securely.

‍

How does it Work?‍

We have a much deeper technical blog coming soon so watch out! But for now here’s the gist!

• Delegated Auth Key Generation
  The user interaction starts with the AI project generating a new ‘delegated auth key’ & setting the permission for the user.
  
  
• Distributed Key Shares across network nodes
  The user’s Delegated Auth Key is split into Key Shards, and distributed across various nodes of the DAN network. This unique setup ensures that no single party has access to the entire key, substantially enhancing security.
  
  
• Validation Request to node operators
  When an AI agent recommends a batch of transactions on behalf of a user, each Network Node individually validates these requests against Scoped Permissions.
  
  
• Distributed Signature Generation
  Only once a threshold number of nodes verify that the transaction request is within permissions, DAN generates the signature required to sign these transactions.
  
  
• EigenLayer Economic Security
  To ensure that each node operates with integrity, DAN leverages the economic security features of EigenLayer Nodes stake their Ethereum holdings, which can be slashed in the event of malicious activities, thus ensuring a reliable and honest network operation.

Conclusion

The benefits of using DAN are manifold, including enhanced on-chain experiences through AI-powered agents while maintaining control over assets and transactions. By introducing a secure way to delegate actions to AI agents, DAN brings the industry closer to the vision of AI acting as a trusted intelligence layer to simplify & augment user’s on-chain journey.

‍