Vitalik Buterin pitches upgrade to Ethereum account abstraction

Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin proposed a common idea to improve account abstraction for standard on-chain addresses.

Called Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 7702, the concept will introduce a new transaction method that allows externally owned accounts (EOAs), aka the actual Ethereum (ETH) account, to execute smart contract wallet functions.

Once the transactions are completed, EOAs will return to their default state. Buterin co-wrote EIP-7702 with Ansgar Dietrich, Matt Garnett, and Sam Wilson to offer better synergy with the smart contract features included in EIP-4337.

According to Uniswap Founder Hayden Adams, EIP-7702 also brings quantum resistance to replace For EIP-3074, which developers are considering shipping with the next blockchain upgrade after Dencun called Petra.

Vitalik just recommended EIP-7702.

This is one of the most impactful changes Ethereum will ever have.

Here’s everything you need to know about how this system works and how we got here:

— Jarrod Watts (@jarrodWattsDev) May 8, 2024

Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum account abstraction

Buterin and other developers proposed account abstraction in 2020 and 2021 as a framework to enable advanced features such as wallet recovery and multi-factor authentication for regular ETH addresses.

Account abstraction was deployed on the ETH mainnet in March last year; This provided greater flexibility to users who wanted to exchange any token and benefit from better on-chain operability.

Buterin has frequently stated that account abstraction will play a key role in the future of blockchain transactions, complementing the excellent “cypherpunk” approach and supporting solutions such as zero-knowledge proofs.