ERC-4337
It’s a new Ethereum upgrade that went live Feb-March 2023.
First… What is it? ERC-4337 introduces something called Account Abstraction, which allows Ethereum wallets to operate as smart contracts.
Still hazy? Here’s what it enables:
- Recovering lost private keys. There’s a new "social recovery system" where designated users have the ability to restore access to a wallet, should someone lose their private keys
- Securing wallets without a seed phrase. Users can enable 2FA and biometrics (fingerprint or facial scan) to protect their wallets. Sayonara to those 12-word seed phrases
- Carrying out automated payments and setting time-based spending limits (i.e. you can set monthly spending limits on a wallet)
- Sending gasless transactions. Decentralized applications can "sponsor" gas fees (aka cover the costs) to make things cheaper and simpler for their customers
Why does it matter? The upgrade enables a lot of the same features a bank offers, without needing to trust a bank.
By merging crypto wallets with smart contracts, Account Abstraction makes for more secure and efficient transactions, ultimately making crypto more user-friendly.
Plus, it makes some of the previously "impossible" stuff (like wallet recovery, seedless wallets, etc.) possible.
Links
- Why we need wide adoption of social recovery wallets
- Account Abstraction: Past, Present, Future
- The Future of Wallets: MPC vs Smart Wallets by Ivo Georgiev | Devcon Bogotá - YouTube
- Ethereum Game Changer!! The ERC-4337 Upgrade Explained!💥 - YouTube
- Smart Accounts Take Off in Q3 (ERC-4337 Statistics)
- A Beginner’s Guide to Account Abstraction | Trust Wallet
- Introducing Trust Wallet SWIFT: The Easiest Way to Start Exploring Web3 | Trust