Ethereum mainnet introduces ERC-4337 account abstraction standard
- An audited version of the Ethereum Foundation’s ERC-4337 account abstraction standard is now live on Ethereum mainnet.
- Third parties own most of the existing Ethereum wallets.
An audited version of the Ethereum [ETH] Foundation’s ERC-4337 account abstraction standard is now live on Ethereum mainnet.
The standard has been implemented via the smart contract EntryPoint. This smart contract will reportedly alter how users interact with wallet services.
Most Ethereum’s existing wallets are owned by third parties (EOA). The list, which includes providers such as MetaMask and imToken, represents the vast majority of wallets available in the ecosystem. It even extends to hardware wallets like the Ledger Nano, where only one key controls an account. If a user loses their key, or it is compromised, tokens within the wallet are compromised as well.
All about Ethereum’s new standard
On 2 March, Yoav Weiss, an Ethereum Foundation security researcher, announced at WalletCon in Denver that the core contracts for ERC-4337 have passed an audit by Open Zeppelin. Additionally, the wallets will be available on every Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible network. This included Polygon [MATIC], Optimism [OP], Arbitrum [ARB], BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche [AVAX], and Gnosis Chain.
New users will no longer need to learn complicated seed phrases or the technical process of setting up a wallet.
Moreover, those who misplace their phone or device can use time-locked social account recovery through a group of trusted friends or even a commercial service. Weiss said:
“It gives you the same features a bank would without having to trust a bank.”
The standard has been in development for around two years, with the team funded by the Ethereum Foundation. While Argent and Gnosis smart contract wallets provide similar functionality, these solutions require centralized components called relays to pay gas fees, whereas ERC-4337 decentralizes the entire system.
Weiss added:
“The next billion users are not going to write 12 words on a piece of paper. Normal people don’t do that… We need to give them better usability, they shouldn’t need to think about cryptographic keys.”