In it Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) in Paris, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin gave a detailed presentation on the history and evolution of “account abstraction” on the Ethereum blockchain.
Account abstraction is a feature of Ethereum that aims to make the system more flexible and easy to use. Basically, it allows users to define the security model of their accounts, which makes Ethereum more adaptable for different use cases.
For example, this feature allows users to set their own transaction validation rules, such as multi-signature requirements or spending limits. They can also make their accounts compatible with a future cryptographic algorithm.
Buterin described account abstraction as a way to allow Ethereum accounts to be controlled by smart contract code instead of private keys.
The Early Days of Account Abstraction
According to Buterin, the idea of allowing accounts to be controlled by code instead of just keys was around Ethereum from the very beginning.
The Ethereum Yellow Book described two types of accounts: externally owned accounts (controlled by private keys) and contract accounts (managed by smart contract code). However, some challenges arose in the early days of implementing account abstraction.
In the first proof-of-concept release of Ethereum, there was optimism that users would adopt multi-signature wallets. However, this did not happen immediately, and detection of exchange deposits became more difficult with multi-sig. There were also complexities with paying smart contract wallet miner fees. The original vision was for all transactions to be simple “calls”, but issues like non-unique transaction hashes made the problem more difficult.
Evolution of Account Abstraction
The Ethereum community iterated on many account abstraction ideas over the years. Proposals arose around the standardization of signatures, the use of “breakpoint” opcodes, the restriction of access during transaction verification, and more. But progress was slow due to the complexities of changing the base protocol and the focus on proof-of-stake delivery. It wasn’t until 2020 that a concrete account abstraction EIP was proposed.
Standalone projects like the Gas Station Network and Argent Wallet spurred further innovation. They found creative ways to enable metatransactions and abstract accounts using only smart contracts. However, solutions that relied on “wrapper” transactions had drawbacks, such as high overhead per transaction.
More recently, EIP-4337 was proposed to provide a universal account abstraction standard using only smart contracts, avoiding base protocol changes. This allows wallets to integrate via a trusted “entry point” contract, uses “bundle” contracts for batch metatransactions, and leverages MEV creators to provide fee marketplaces. Extensions like payer contracts enable additional capabilities like token-based fee payment.
Future of account abstraction
Buterin acknowledged the growing desire to enshrine parts of the account abstraction (such as ERC-4337) directly into the efficiency and censorship resistance protocol. He also noted the importance of ensuring a smooth transition for legacy EOA users and integrating innovations such as biometric signers.
Overall, Buterin’s presentation provided a rare insight into Ethereum’s historical struggles to enable advanced account structures. Through years of industry iteration and collaboration, substantial progress has been made on this complex but fundamental problem.
As Buterin noted, the work of many talented Ethereum developers has brought the ecosystem much closer to the original vision of fluid and flexible account abstraction.
Interestingly, other protocols such as INTU provide an alternative approach to the Ethereum Foundation’s concept of account abstraction. EOAs are retained by INTU via local cryptography in the form of distributed externally owned accounts (dEOAs), opening up account sharing, threshold signatures, and private key abstraction without the need for more smart contract accounts than They consume a lot of gasoline. INTU announced its public beta in EthCC
Innovation within the Ethereum ecosystem is arguably stronger than ever, with ETH accounting for 19% of the total crypto market capitalization, close to the all-time high of 24% set in 2018.
