Account abstraction is intended to allow users unfamiliar with the cryptocurrency ecosystem to easily navigate web applications3 without creating a wallet. This technical feat is now made possible on Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) enabled blockchains, thanks to the implementation of EIP-4337.
Account abstraction becomes a reality with the deployment of EIP-4337
Account abstraction is a key concept whose realization will allow for a greater democratization of blockchain. With the recently deployed EIP-4337, a big step has been taken in this direction.
This Ethereum Improvement Proposal introduces the ERC-4337 standard and will allow users to use blockchain applications without having to worry about creating a wallet. Moreover, the major advantage of this improvement is that it does not modify the Ethereum consensus. As a result, this technology can be deployed on all blockchains compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
The deployment of EIP-4337 was made official by Yoav Weiss, a security researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, during WalletCon in Denver. OpenZeppelin conducted a code audit, while the Ethereum Foundation is allocating a $300,000 budget to encourage the development of projects using this new standard:
ERC-4337 is live! https://t.co/Nj09jqcBdU
– yoav.eth (@yoavw) March 2, 2023
How the ERC-4337 standard works
While we don’t want to go into too much technical detail about how ERC-4337 actually works, let’s try to understand in a simplified way what is going on behind the scenes.
When this technology is deployed on an application, it can be seen, in a way, as a mini layer 2 on top of the blockchain to which it is attached. It creates an intuitive interface for users, without them having to create a wallet, which can be a simple Web2-style account creation.
Let’s take the example of a web-based game3 in which these users could perform all the operations they want on the application in question, without necessarily understanding in depth how cryptocurrencies work.
All these transactions will then be “packaged” by actors called “Bundlers”, in order to give them form on the blockchain through real transactions, in a smart contract called “EntryPoint”.
Since the users of this application are not necessarily familiar with the concept of “gas charges”, another type of actor is needed for this system to function properly: the Paymasters. In a way, they will sponsor the transactions by settling the gas fees on the blockchain and then re-invoicing them to the application.
An application built on the ERC-4337 standard could even, theoretically, offer a user interface allowing it to be used without cryptocurrencies, simply with a card payment for example. All the process necessary for its proper functioning would then be done in the background, a bit like what happens on a centralized exchange.
It will therefore be interesting to follow the way in which the promises of the EIP-4337 are realised, because it is by simplifying access to our ecosystem as much as possible that it will really be able to be democratised among the general public.
