A new token standard on the Ethereum network enables the implementation of account abstraction technology or smart accounts.
The ERC-4337 token standard is now available on Ethereum. This was announced by Yoav Weiss, Blockchain Security Expert and one of the developers at Ethereum Foundation. The announcement was made during the WalletCon conference at ETHDenver.
ERC-4337 enables the implementation of smart account technology, also known as account abstraction. It eliminates the need to memorize or record a complex seed phrase somewhere by fixing unique cryptographic keys in standard smartphone security modules. Basically, the technology turns smartphones into hardware wallets and makes them much easier to use, and therefore could facilitate the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.
“The next billion users are not going to write 12 words on a piece of paper. Normal people don’t do that,” Yoav Weiss shared in a comment for Cointelegraph.
The innovation has already passed an audit by Open Zeppelin. The new standard will be available on every Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible network, including BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, Avalanche, Optimism, Arbitrum, and Gnosis Chain.
Apart from not having to memorize or otherwise fix the seed phrase, account abstraction has a number of other advantages, including:
- two-factor authentication;
- the setting of monthly spending limits on the account;
- signing transactions using a fingerprint or face-scan;
- the use of session keys to play blockchain games without constantly having to confirm transactions;
- temporary blocking of the wallet in case of loss of the device and restoring access to it with the help of other services.
Account abstraction provides “the same features a bank would without having to trust a bank.” The ERC-4337 standard is fully decentralized. The Ethereum Foundation team has been developing it for the past two years. Yoav Weiss is one of the leading developers of the technology, along with Vitalik Buterin and five other programmers.
According to Weiss, Buterin described the concept of smart accounts “before Ethereum even launched.” But all earlier proposals to implement account abstraction faced more pressing challenges, such as moving to Proof-of-Stake. Experts believe that smart account technology will get a strong boost in 2023.
