Intent-Based Systems

The concept of Intent-Based Systems provides a promising pathway to solve crypto's most prevalent UX issues, from interacting with DeFi to operating cross-chain. But in order to achieve their full potential, these systems will need a host of currently underserved data products.

Wallet developers are increasingly interested in adopting agentic frameworks that allow users to simply declare what they want, rather than prescribing how to achieve it. Instead of meticulously crafting multiple transactions and fine-tuning every parameter, individuals can state goals—such as “I want to swap asset X for Y at the best possible price”—and delegate the heavy lifting of execution to automated or semi-automated agents. These agents reason about how to fulfill the intent, searching across multiple protocols and data sources to construct the optimal transaction.

An intent-based design offers several compelling UX advantages: it hides the complexity of on-chain operations, reduces boilerplate interactions, and can even batch multiple steps into a single action. This drastically lowers friction for end users, many of whom are new to crypto or simply do not have the time to navigate evolving protocol standards. In the simplest terms, intents replace tedious, single-step transactions with a high-level directive that machines translate into on-chain behavior.

By integrating with Portex, intent-based systems can become more useful and substantially safer. Agents tasked with fulfilling an intent often need extensive off-chain insights from real-time data feeds to historical analyses. These data points inform crucial decisions—such as which markets to tap into, how to mitigate potential nuances such as slippage, or whether a protocol has undergone a recent security incident. Through Portex, these agents can discover, purchase, and integrate robust datasets to ensure the best possible outcome for users.

Example: Maximizing Yield on USDC

Imagine a USDC holder interacting with an intent-based interface. Instead of manually comparing yields across a dozen DeFi user interfaces, the user simply states:

“I want to earn the highest safe yield on my USDC.”

Behind the scenes, an AI agent queries Portex for multiple datasets:

• Yield Feeds: provides up-to-date APYs across various lending protocols.

• Risk Metrics: indicates overall protocol health, including factors like current liquidations or large capital outflows that could pose systemic risks.

• Network Liveness Checks: confirms the operational status and chain finality times for the target blockchain before deployment.

Armed with these insights, the agent pieces together a transaction that routes the user’s USDC into a lending pool with a high yield and acceptable risk. Rather than relying solely on basic yield or liquidity data, the agent draws on Portex’s curated dataset marketplace to make a genuinely informed, multi-faceted decision.

Unlocking New Paradigms

For developers of such intent-based systems, Portex offers a turnkey solution to embed rich data capabilities directly into their workflows. Instead of maintaining in-house or closed-data solutions—where maintenance and curation quickly become prohibitively expensive—teams can purchase precisely the datasets they need, on demand, from the Portex marketplace. This “pay-as-you-go” model offloads the time and cost of standing up elaborate data pipelines and fosters an ecosystem where new data products can be seamlessly added, discovered, and integrated.

As more intent-based solutions emerge, we expect an uptick in automated agents leveraging Portex to assemble nuanced, data-driven transactions. This synergy between intents and an open data marketplace is the next logical step in creating composable, transparent, and user-centric crypto experiences.