ERC-4337: Understanding Account Abstraction
Account abstraction is a blockchain technology that enables users to replace their traditional blockchain accounts with smart contracts. As an ERC Standard, it applies to Ethereum and to all EVM-based blockchains, including Artirbum, Avalanche, and Polygon. Two types of accounts exist on EVM-based blockchain platforms: Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) and Smart Contract Accounts (‘Smart Accounts’).Users on most current blockchains and EVM-based systems have EOAs. They access and transact from their accounts using an external private key paired with their public key. There are multiple ways to store these private keys: hardware, software, and paper wallets. Using the wallets to store the keys safely can often confuse some new users. When these accounts are set up, a private key is generated for the user to keep secret, and so are ‘seed phrases’ to help users recover their accounts if they misplace their private key. Users should store these seed phrases securely. An EOA must initiate all blockchain activity. All activities on a blockchain platform, such as conducting transactions or calling smart contracts to perform their logic, must be initiated from an EOA. And every transaction costs money in the form of Gas fees.Every action on the blockchain requires gas fees. EOAs cannot do anything until a quantity of ETH is transferred into them to make transactions. Funding new accounts to start transacting is one of the biggest hurdles that first-time users must overcome. Some experts believe this is the primary impediment stopping the large-scale adoption of Web3-based solutions. Additionally, if you lose or forget your private key and seed phrases, there is no way of recovering the account — in which case, all the money in it is permanently inaccessible. There are several painful examples of this.
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