Few startup journeys begin with a vampire attack, but for Connor Howe, CEO and co-founder of Enso, that chaos became a proving ground.

What had started as a social DeFi platform quickly evolved through hard-won lessons into something thats currently far more ambitious a unified intent engine for Web3, a DeFi super app, if you will.

In this interview, Howe reflects on the pivots, the pain points, and the revelations that led to Ensos vision of radically simplifying on-chain development. He shares how intent-based design shifts developer thinking, what it means to build with abstraction in mind, and why Ensos recent $3B milestone is just the beginning.

From vampire attacks to intent engines — Enso’s journey has evolved rapidly. Looking back, what was the pivotal moment when you realized shortcuts and intent-based development weren’t just features, but the foundation for a whole new kind of infrastructure?

We’ve been through two pivots to get to where we are and have experienced the hurdles of building in Web3 firsthand. We started with the vampire attack and a social trading product, where we integrated 15 DeFi protocols. That alone took months and over $500k in audits. Then we pivoted to a DeFi super app, which required even more protocol support. But in that process, we discovered a fast and secure way to integrate any protocol and standardized common onchain actions across smart contracts. When launching the DeFi super app, we supported 50+ protocols. Other builders noticed and started asking how we did it. So we spun up an API, and in the first week, it saw $11M in volume.

That was the moment it clicked. Shortcuts aren’t just a feature, but the foundation. We don’t have too many apps in Web3, we have too few. And it’s because building them is too hard. We lived through that pain, and built Enso to fix it. Not just for us, but for everyone.

One of the most persistent issues in Web3 is fragmentation across chains and protocols. Enso proposes a unification layer through intents, but what are the biggest architectural or governance challenges in maintaining that kind of composability across a decentralized landscape?

One of the biggest architectural challenges is that every blockchain speaks a different “language”, i.e. different speeds, block sizes, and quirks in how contracts are written, deployed and executed. Composability becomes a nightmare when youre a developer trying to stitch together these fundamentally different systems. 

Enso acts as a unification layer that approaches this from the bottom up. Rather than forcing developers to think in terms of chain-specific implementations, Enso abstracts that complexity away. To make this scalable, the Enso network encompasses the full stack for reading data and executing onchain. It’s a decentralized, open network where developers and AI agents can contribute data feeds and smart contract information, enabling fast, reliable execution across an ever-growing number of blockchains.

The idea of intent-driven development sounds intuitive, even obvious, once you hear it — but it challenges decades of imperative software thinking. What do you think needs to shift in developer mindsets (especially from Web2) for shortcut engines to feel natural?

Developers need to shift from thinking in actions to thinking in outcomes. In Web2 and traditional Web3 development, the focus is on defining every step manually. But in an intent-driven model, you define what you want, not how to get there, and let the engine handle finding the best route. That requires trust in orchestration layers, but more importantly, a philosophical shift: abstraction is not a loss of control, it’s a gain in efficiency. Web2 devs already work with high-level APIs and compilers. Blockchain shortcuts are just the next evolution in Web3: reliable, proven paths of execution that fulfill intent requests.

Graphers and Action Providers form the core of how Enso generates and optimizes on-chain solutions. What have you learned from watching these roles in action? 

The Enso network is powered by three core participants:

Action Providers contribute modular smart contract abstractions.  Graphers build algorithms that combine these actions into executable solutions. Only one solution is selected per request, so graphers are rewarded for finding the most optimal path. Validators secure the network by authenticating requests, verifying contributions, simulating transactions, and validating the final solution. Each request to Enso incurs a query fee, paid in ENSO tokens and distributed across all three roles. This creates a flywheel: more usage leads to more rewards, driving further contribution, optimization, and decentralization.

At the time of writing, the Enso token sale is live on CoinList, giving everyone the chance to become part of and participate in the Enso network at favorable terms.

You’ve spoken before about how most Web3 teams are forced to “choose what frameworks they support” due to limited resources. Do you think we’re nearing a point where this kind of technical exclusivity will become obsolete?

Enso is working on making this obsolete by unifying all smart contracts, chains, and protocols into one network. Web3 teams will no longer be forced to choose from different frameworks, they will have a single point of access with read and write functionality to interact with any smart contract on any chain from a single integration. This will empower developers to build seamless, consumer-facing applications used by hundreds of thousands of users.

Enso recently hit a major milestone, achieving more than $3 billion in transaction volume. What’s next? 

Supporting Berachain’s launch and their pre-deposit campaign “Boyco” as the main infrastructure provider was a big accomplishment for the whole team. Enso’s infrastructure processed $3.1B in 3 days, one of the largest liquidity migrations in DeFi’s history. It proved not only the value of Enso, but also demonstrated the reliability and scalability of the infrastructure under real conditions.

As a next step, Enso is evolving from a powerful API into a fully decentralized network. First, we will open up the Enso DeFi library, allowing anyone to contribute contract abstractions, broadening the opportunities, and enabling even faster development.

Enso is currently available on many EVM chains, and another large innovation will be expanding to Solana and Move based blockchains. This expansion will further enhance our customers’ ability to build composable applications and interact with all of the blockchain ecosystem through one source. 

Disclaimer: The content shared in this interview is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendation, or endorsement of any project, protocol, or asset. The cryptocurrency space involves risk and volatility. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with qualified professionals before making any financial decisions. This interview was conducted in cooperation with Enso, who generously shared their time and insights. The content has been reviewed and approved for publication in mutual understanding. Minor edits have been made for clarity and readability, while preserving the substance and tone of the original conversation.