While the account abstraction is seen as a catalyst that could bring 1 billion users to Ethereum, its co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared some challenges in implementing the new feature on the blockchain.
Speaking on July 18 at the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) event in Paris, Buterin explained some of the key innovations that modern account abstraction brings and the current hurdles the community faces when it comes to the concept.
At the moment, when Ethereum users transfer ERC-20 tokens, they must have Ether (ETH) to pay for in-network transaction fees. According to Buterin, account abstraction extensions, usually called “payers,” can allow users to pay their fees with “whatever currency they’re transferring.” Apart from this, the extension can also allow decentralized applications (DApps) to sponsor transactions for their users.
In addition, Buterin also talked about another extension called signature aggregation. According to the Ethereum founder, by compiling signatures with the feature, developers can save money on gas and data. He explained:
“Actually, this is especially important in rollups because in a rollup is large or because a large part of the size of a transaction is the signature in a rollup.”
Along with the potential benefits of account abstraction for users, Buterin also acknowledged that developers still have challenges to overcome. This includes the need for an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) to upgrade current externally owned Ethereum accounts (regular user accounts) into smart contracts and ensure the protocol works similarly in Layer 2 solutions.
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Buterin also highlighted that there are additional challenges when it comes to integrating with existing technologies, such as biometrics and integration with existing wallets.
Despite the hurdles the account abstraction effort faced, the Ethereum co-founder expressed enthusiasm for its progress. “Account abstraction has come a long way, and I’m excited about all the progress we’ll continue to make going forward,” he said.
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