• The Ethereum Foundation has announced a major change to the Ethereum ecosystem with account abstraction, which will remove Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) from the network.
• EIP-4337 upgrades smart contract wallets with elements of account abstraction, such as decentralized bundlers, token fee payment, an alternative mempool and other features.
• The core motivation behind this upgrade is to completely remove any need at all for users to also have EOAs.
Overview of Account Abstraction
Account abstraction is a core advancement in web3 account management that seeks to make user accounts more user-friendly. Initially, the goal was to generalize the web3 account model so that all accounts are treated similarly — regardless of whether they are EOAs or smart contract accounts. The Ethereum Foundation has decided to prioritize smart contract wallets as the default account model for users and is actively working towards removing EOAs entirely from the ecosystem.
EIP-4337: Upgrading Smart Contract Wallets
Security Fellow for the Ethereum Foundation Yoav Weiss announced EIP-4337 while speaking at ETHDenver. This update upgrades the capabilities of smart contract wallets with elements of account abstraction including decentralized bundlers, token fee payment, an alternative mempool and other features. Vitalik Buterin originally proposed this concept back in September 2021 on an Ethereum message board with an idea for “an account abstraction proposal which completely avoids the need for consensus-layer protocol changes”
Goal: Eliminating Need For EOAs
One key aspect of EIP-4337 that has seemingly gone unnoticed by many is its plan to remove Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) from the ecosystem entirely. According to documentation on the Ethereum Foundation website, this upgrade will “completely remove any need at all for users to also have EOAs” in order to achieve its key goal — allowing users to manage their accounts without having technical knowledge or understanding about how blockchain works underneath it all.
Implications On Scalability & Future Of Web 3
This move towards eliminating EOAs could have significant implications on scalability if it becomes successful as it would reduce node load and allow more transactions per second on Ethereum’s network — potentially making it much faster than what we currently experience today. It could also pave way for new advancements and innovations in web 3 development as developers can focus their efforts on creating better user experiences rather than worrying about technical complexities associated with private keys and other security measures related to traditional accounts management models.
Conclusion
The shift away from externally owned accounts marks a major milestone in Ethereum’s evolution towards becoming a fully decentralized platform where users don’t need any prior knowledge or technical understanding about blockchain technology in order manage their own funds securely without relying on third parties or centralized entities controlling their money flow or access points into digital assets markets around world . With recent developments such as eth 2 staking coming soon , these changes could further accelerate adoption among mainstream audiences who are looking for easy ways into crypto space .