With the ever-evolving blockchain technology, new standards are continuously being developed. Recently unveiled is the ERC-4337 standard, known as smart account, which promises to offer cryptocurrency users a more convenient user experience. Before this revelation was made at WalletCon in Denver by Ethereum Foundation Security Researcher Yoav Weiss, other specifications such as ERC-20 and ERC-721 had already been introduced. Alongside these others stands now the powerful yet practical Smart Account protocol – one that looks set to revolutionize crypto money use altogether!
ERC-4337 Standard Has Been in Development for a Time
In the announcement released, Open Zeppelin has confirmed that ERC-4337 is audited and can be utilized on all Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible networks. These include Avalanche, Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, BNB Smart Chain, and Gnosis Chain.
Thanks to this modern-day advancement, those new to the world of cryptocurrencies no longer need to worry about “seed phrases” or technical processes associated with creating a wallet. As Weiss commented on this subject:
“The upcoming billions joining the cryptocurrency community won’t need to jot down 12 words onto a sheet of paper – it’s simply not something that everyday people would do. To make their lives easier, we have devised a more user-friendly and straightforward alternative solution for them.”
For two years, the Ethereum Foundation has been diligently working on crafting the ERC-4337 standard. To this end, Vitalik Buterin – Ethereum Co-Founder himself – published a Medium article in 2021 about it and offered insights into how such a system would be implemented. Soon after that, Argent and Gnosis took up the challenge of using similar features with Smart Contract Wallets, yet they encountered issues when trying to handle transaction fees through central components known as relays. That’s where ERC-4337 comes in: providing an entirely decentralized structure for managing transactions efficiently without needing third parties or central systems involved!
The ERC-4337 standard contains an array of incredible features, such as wallet word elimination, account retrieval capability, the ability to set transaction limits (daily or monthly), two-factor authentication safeguards (e.g., fingerprint and face scan technology), and no requirement for recurrent authorization while playing blockchain games via private session keys. Moreover, if you misplace your phone or device in any way, you can still easily recover access through “social recovery” with a network of reliable contacts or even specialized services!
How Will ERC-4337 Work?
In his article on ERC-4337, Buterin expounded upon the system’s mechanics that will be in effect and discussed its pros and cons. He explained how this system works to simplify the existing Ethereum system without changing its functionality. Users will send their transactions, signature, and approval details to a miner or “bundler,” who processes them into one bundle transaction on the Ethereum block with Flashbot-like services. Bundling these transactions together is reported to reduce transaction fees as an added bonus too!
Pros and Cons of Ethereum ERC-4337
ERC-4337 promises a variety of advantages to users, such as the ability to add new verification methods, upgrade wallet keys and execute custom transactions with minimal effort. For example, multiple small-scale operations can be easily executed using this function. In other words: you’ll have more control over your workflow.
Despite ERC-4337‘s advances in security against theft, it has unfortunately resulted in a slight increase in DoS vulnerability due to the complexity of its verification logic. Additionally, transaction fees have increased even though most transactions are sent without issues. All things considered, these cons must be considered before deciding whether or not this protocol suits you. The user is restricted to a single transaction in the mempool. Therefore, increased operations on small scales render queuing transactions superfluous and unhelpful.
