ERC-4337:
Account Abstraction

An account abstraction proposal which completely avoids the need for consensus-layer protocol changes. Instead of adding new protocol features and changing the bottom-layer transaction type, this proposal introduces a higher-layer pseudo-transaction object called a UserOperation. Users send UserOperation objects into a new separate mempool. Bundlers package up a set of these objects into a single transaction by making a call to a special contract, and that transaction then gets included in a block.

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What is Account Abstraction?

Account abstraction moves crypto from the current approach of a simple EOA account, where one can lose everything with a small mistake, to a future where an account can be tailored to their needs using smart contracts.

The shift from EOAs to smart contract wallets with arbitrary verification logic paves the way for a series of improvements to wallet designs, as well as reducing complexity for end users.

Why ERC-4337?

Co-authored by Vitalik Buterin, Yoav Weiss, Kristof Gazso, Dror Tirosh, Shahaf Nacson and Tjaden Hess, ERC-4337 introduces account abstraction without any modifications to the core protocol. It achieves so by replicating the functionality of the transactions mempool in a higher-level system. However, instead of transactions, users send UserOperation objects to Ethereum nodes, and they package a set of these objects into a single transaction that gets included in the Ethereum chain.

Through ERC-4337 Account Abstraction is becoming widespread! Join the numerous projects in the ecosystem that understand that if we want to onboard the next billion users, accounts can't be forced to choose between security and usabilty - they must offer users both.

ERC-4337 takes usability even one step further by introducing paymasters. This decentralized mechanism enables users to pay gas fees using ERC-20 tokens instead of ETH or request a third party to sponsor their gas fees altogether.

Decentralization

ERC-4337 enables account abstraction while preserving the ethos of the ecosystem by offering an anti-fragile approach that has no single point of failure and is censorship resistant

No hard fork

Thanks to its design of the higher-level UserOp mempool, ERC-4337 can be adopted without any consensus protocol changes

“Choose a key, any key…”

Support for signature schemes that are more efficient (Schnorr, BLS), user friendly (smartphone secure enclave) as well as quantum-safe ones (Lamport, Winternitz)

Gas abstraction

Paymasters remove UX friction and open up new paradigms, by allowing users to pay network fees with ERC-20 tokens instead of ETH, or even request any third party to cover those fees altogether.