Ethereum ERC-4337 ‘smart accounts’ launch at WalletCon: Account abstraction is here

Smart accounts, enabled by the launch of the new ERC-4337 standard, are now available on Ethereum and are expected to help mainstream adoption by finally making crypto user friendly.

Ethereum Foundation security researcher Yoav Weiss will make the surprise announcement at WalletCon in Denver today that the core contracts for ERC-4337 — known by blockchain developers as “account abstraction” — have passed an audit by Open Zeppelin and will be made available on every Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible network including Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche and Gnosis Chain.

New users will no longer need to learn about complicated seed phrases or the technical process of setting up a wallet to onboard into the decentralized world of crypto, Weiss told Cointelegraph.

“The next billion users are not going to write 12 words on a piece of paper. Normal people don’t do that,” he said. “We need to give them better usability, they shouldn’t need to think about cryptographic keys.”

“EIP-4337 is going to take a year or whatever” – @sashaaldrick of @gelatonetwork

You’re in for a big surprise

— John Rising (@johnrising_) February 25, 2023

Account abstraction also enables the unique cryptographic keys used for cryptocurrency to be stored on standard smartphone security modules, upgrading them to de facto hardware wallets. However the screen remains a security issue compared with traditional hardware wallets and gas costs could be prohibitive on mainnet initially — although other EVM chains and Layer 2s have low enough fees to make it viable.

It also enables the use of two-factor authentication; signing transactions on your phone using a fingerprint or face-scan; the setting of monthly spending limits on an account; and the use of session keys to play blockchain games without constantly having to approve transactions.

Users who lose their phone or device can use time-locked social recovery of their account via 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 two years with the team funded via grants from the Ethereum Foundation. While similar functionality is available on smart contract wallets from Argent and Gnosis, these solutions require centralized components called relays to pay gas fees whereas ERC-4337 decentralizes the entire system.

Weiss was one of the lead authors of