Ethereum has undergone considerable growth and adoption in the cryptocurrency landscape, largely due to innovations in blockchain technology and interest from institutional investors. Even if Bitcoin remains the dominant cryptocurrency, Ethereum’s unique features (e.g., smart contract capabilities) and strong and reliable developer community position it as a strong contender. The price of Ethereum is relative to the U.S. dollar, so traders must closely monitor the Ethereum price USD to keep track of the value of their investments and stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the market. According to the experts, Ethereum is poised to outperform Bitcoin in 2024.
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, maintains he sees account abstraction as a primary factor in accelerating Ethereum adoption. EIP-4337 introduces account abstraction, which streamlines user interaction on the blockchain by eliminating the need to deal with the complexities of wallets. If Web3 doesn’t become more user-friendly, people will be reluctant to abandon their familiar Web2 applications. The number of cryptocurrency purchasers is more than before, but Web3 onboarding faces multiple challenges that can hinder or frustrate users, such as the need for technical tools and skills. Account abstraction is the subject of many discussions in the crypto community.
In The Current Ethereum Framework, There Are Two Different Types of Accounts
Any person or entity can send and receive cryptocurrency within the network, not to mention interact with other accounts on the blockchain. An Ethereum account is a fundamental operating unit for the Ethereum Virtual Machine, connected directly to the blockchain.
Every Ethereum account is either a:
Externally Owned Accounts
An externally owned account (EOA) is an account controlled by a private key, which represents a unique signature and access pass to the blockchain account. It’s typically marketed as a software wallet or a hardware wallet. You can use your wallet to send transactions, check your account balance, and connect to apps built on Ethereum, such as games, NFT marketplaces, and so on. The address is extracted within 20 bytes of the public key hash. Creating an Ethereum account can be done freely, privately, and without requiring permission.
Contract Accounts
A contract account (CA) has code and information storage but no private key. It’s immutably linked to the blockchain, together with the address key. A CA can perform complex functions by taking advantage of account abstraction and its advantages. Benefits include but aren’t limited to gas fee savings, EVM ecosystem integrations, and multisig management. Each CA has its own serial number for identification, allowing messages and inputs to be sent into the account to engage in certain functions. Given that data storage is used, there’s a cost to create the contract. Only when a transaction is received can it send a counter-transaction.
ERC-4337 Describes How Account Abstraction Works in the EVM
ERC-4337, the Ethereum standard that introduces account abstraction, was originally deployed to the Mainnet in March 2023. For those new to DeFi, the process with externally owned accounts is lengthy and complicated. Additionally, if the private keys are misplaced, users can lose the funds stored in them, therefore resulting in a disagreeable Web3 experience. Account abstraction combines the features of the Ethereum protocol’s existing account types, proposing a one-of-a-kind account that can transact with tokens and create contracts. Before the implementation of ERC-4337, there were several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) suggesting account abstraction, but none were implemented.
When implementing account abstraction, it’s paramount to exhaustively test and guarantee that smart contracts are written securely and accurately. The reason why EEIP-4337 stands out is that it doesn’t require any changes to the Ethereum protocol. Since account abstraction is a relatively new concept, developers are still exploring the opportunities it brings to Web3. In what follows, we’ll touch on the different dimensions of account abstraction and discuss how they improve the Ethereum experience.
- Quick Wallet Setup and Effortless Transactions. The process of setting up a wallet might seem daunting to anyone new to Ethereum; it’s rarely straightforward. Account abstraction allows for a more user-friendly experience, allowing owners to initiate transactions without incurring gas fees. You can delegate multiple people, devices, and third-party services as your “security” team. You can tell people your address and start receiving Ethereum before you’ve ever sent a transaction yourself.
- Automated Transactions. It can be difficult to set up automated payments on the Ethereum blockchain, and account abstraction is the only viable solution available. Instead of manually initiating transactions and signing each one, users can automate both processes. With a smart contract, you can define the range of parameters to automate transactions without much effort. For example, you can set up monthly payments for your subscription services.
- Various Levels of Access Sharing Among Users. You can assign different levels of access for any user or group you share your account with. Should you lose your credentials, the custodians can sign a transaction to create new access credentials. You can add users who are only allowed to make specific payments during a certain period of time. Account abstraction tackles the obstacle represented by the use of cryptographic keys.
There are two ways of achieving account abstraction, such as letting externally owned accounts execute Ethereum Virtual Machine code and allowing smart contracts to initiate transactions.
Conclusion
Years after Vitalik Buterin introduced the idea of account abstraction, there’s still debate about what is the best way to implement the Ethereum standard. What’s certain is that this technology will continue to develop in the upcoming years, offering even more benefits to users. When a user undertakes an action via a Web3 app, they submit a UserOperation into a mempool, which can contain instructions of the type “send 0.05 ETH to wallet X”. Validators on the network will pick up these UserOperations, grouping them into packaged transactions and submitting them to an EntryPoint. The EntryPoint works as a router, forwarding the bundles to a smart contract wallet.
All in all, EIP-4337 has received broad support from the Ethereum community as it doesn’t involve making large-scale changes to the blockchain. Nonetheless, users presently using externally owned accounts might find it challenging to move their assets to a new account, given the high gas fees on Ethereum.