Overview on AA -
Through the ERC-4337 standard “account abstraction” (“AA”) was formally introduced on the ethereum blockchain. These AA accounts are based on non-custodial wallets that can function as adaptable smart contracts. AA accounts/ wallets are fundamentally different from the native EOA wallets like metamask, Coinbase , Trust wallet etc, which are typically just a pair of cryptographic keys (public and private keys), Unlike EOA, Abstracted accounts can initiate transactions on their own can offer advanced features and capabilities due to their nature of being programmable with logic.These contract accounts don’t have a private key or seed phrase and they cannot initiate a transaction. They can only execute a certain action when a transaction from an EOA triggers the smart contract code.
The above diagram shows the working of Contract accounts.
Some of the features which are implemented in Smart Contract Accounts are -Abstracted accounts can initiate transactions on their own.
Social Logins: Enjoy the convenience of creating accounts using email or social media. Biconomy AA wallets are now implemented in TheSandboxGame gameplay to make the experience more seamless.
Gas Sponsorship & Batch Transactions: Experience seamless transactions as dApps cover your gas feesand Saving time by executing multiple transactions with just one click.
These features are exclusively used by Blocto.io .
Visa the web2 payment giant has also been introducing the use of paymasters to pay for the users to pay their gas fees and the users can eventually payback in native currencies.Session Keys: They represent a significant UX breakthrough as they enable users to pre-approve the rules governing their interactions with a dapp, allowing them to engage with the platform without requiring a signature for each transaction.
ArgentX is one of the wallets which uses session keys, thus it helps users to streamline their interactions with various dapps, enjoying a seamless experience without sacrificing security. Which contributes to greater adoption of dapps, as more users will be able to interact with them in a safe, efficient manner.
Shared Security: Benefit from enhanced safety through multi-signature access(as privoided by Safe, Avocado, etc)
Automatic Payments: Set and forget recurring payments for a hassle-free experience.Product like UNlock Protocol, or even Netflix and other subscription based services can implement this feature of AA accounts.
Advanced Security: Gain peace of mind with daily transfer limits and controlled recipient lists.
eg: Native feature provided by avocado wallet grants precise permissions for each transaction , also features like revoking token approval right at the end of the transaction is provided.Social Recovery: Allowing users to recover lost or forgotten private keys through nominations thorough other wallets (Known as Guradians in ArgentX) or by using email, security questions, phone numbers, etc.
Investigate key use cases, emphasizing roles in cryptocurrency transactions, DApps, and other applications-
Recent Innovations Using AA and making -
--Patch wallet's Implementation of Kernel Account By ZeroDev -
With the basic example in the ZeroDev docs for Kernel accounts can be understood as eg: A user might be onboarded to Web3 with a simple in-game wallet. The user might have accumulated some valuable NFTs in the game, and instead of transferring the NFTs to a real wallet, the user can simply upgrade its wallet implementation to a real wallet, while keeping the same address.
Kernel uses diamond storage — a technique that ensures that one wallet’s data storage won’t collide with another wallet’s. Therefore, it’s perfectly safe to migrate either from or to a wallet built on the kernel.
Similar soultion is provided by Safe core account but with Kernel, it's a much simpler, efficient, and highly extensible as smart contract account.
--ERC-6900 & Modular Smart Contract Accounts and Plugins-
This proposal standardizes smart contract accounts and account plugins, which are smart contract interfaces that allow for composable logic within smart contract accounts.Which ensures many new features of accounts can be built by customizing the logic that goes into the validation and execution steps.
eg: Rhinestone Protocol's implementiation of modular SCAs in its architecture.
-- Particle Network's -
--BTC-Connect- takes advantage of the ERC-4337 design and L2 EVM-compatible chains to introduce a Smart Account, Paymaster, Bundler, and a unique Bitcoin-specific Modal. With it, developers in the fast-paced world of Ordinals and inscriptions will be able to offer their users access to gasless trades, account programmability, etc.
--Smart Wallet-as-a-Service (Also by Particle Network ) -
Providing SVM and EVM based chains support, enriching interoperability cross- chain and also the MPC implementation of the following algorithms:
--The Threshold Signature Scheme (TSS) (Also by Particle Network) - is a cryptographic primitive for distributed key generation and signing. The use of TSS in Particle Network is a new paradigm that can provide numerous benefits, especially in terms of security.Particle Network has two parties jointly computing the public key, each holding a secret share of the private key. The advantage is that the private key is not a single point of failure anymore because each party holds just one part of it. When signing transactions, we run a distributed signature generation between two parties. Only Party-1 (the user side) can start the signing process. Again, we've moved from local computation (single point of failure) to an interactive one.
ERC-6551 Token Bound Accounts-
Token Bound Accounts (TBAs) are essentially wallets that enable the creation of an interface and registry for smart contract accounts held by ERC-721 tokens. This means that they act as smart contract accounts, or wallets that are linked to the NFTs that own them, thereby allowing for more comprehensive control over the assets and transactions associated with those accounts. One of the key benefits of token bound accounts is that they are powered by ERC-4337, a highly customizable standard that provides users with a wide range of options for storing and managing assets. Additionally, the use of token bound accounts ensures that a permanent and unalterable record is kept of all on-chain activities executed by the accounts, thereby establishing a robust and transparent system for tracking and verifying transactions.
Lens Protocol introduced the ERC-6551-powered profile as a wallet
CLAVE's -
The Secure Enclave By Clave- is an advanced hardware feature, specifically designed to act as a protective shield around users' most sensitive data. Unlike other parts of a device, which might handle everything from app processes to notifications, the Secure Enclave is a distinct microchip, isolated from all other components of the device. This separation ensures that sensitive data, such as biometric information and cryptographic keys, are isolated from potential threats that might compromise other parts of a device.
Universal Recovery also By Clave- The Universal Recovery Module keeps the emails that the user added as a guardian and ensures that the recovery can be initiated and executed by checking the zero-knowledge proof created by the relayer using the emails sent by the guardian.
Discussion around the User Experience, considering ease of use, onboarding,-
1-- As quoted on Vitalik's blog on AA roadmap - "The Existing users cannot upgrade without moving all their assets and activity to a new account. (at this stage*)
Converting an EOA into a smart contract wallet- To allow existing EOAs to upgrade to ERC-4337 wallets, we can make an EIP that allows EOAs to perform an operation that sets their contract code. Once an EOA does this, the transformation is irreversible; from that point on, that account will only function as a smart contract wallet. Fortunately, because ERC-4337 accounts are DELEGATECALL proxies, it would be possible to later convert the wallet into a smart contract compatible with a different ERC if desired."
2--As an average DeFi user, I still don't know, what way is the best to onboard the transition between EOA wallets to CA(Contract Account) wallets.
Hence for the time being making a complete switch is not possible for now.
For example: I do want to transfer the 25USDT available on the bnb chain, and even though it's possible to take out this amount from there, but the procedure includes
a)Going on a CEX(binance, kucoin, etc.) then buying 10$ worth min bnb.
b)Transfer it to my EOA wallet of worth around .01BNB.
)And further will be able to pay for the transaction.
OR could also implement the usage of Meta transaction based wallets like Ambire wallet, etc. The point being why do i need to do this if i can just use this wallet, if i need to. (This is often why most active users, who might be using the AA wallets, keep them as their secondary wallets, hence most often we,see the daily active wallets active, during times of new protocol announcments and airdrop farmers tend to participate in the process, which eventually slows down as the news fade.)
But surely as discussed in the roadmap by Vitalik ,
as we move forward and the defi protocols like aave, uniswap, etc, ensures active inclusion of AA wallets for usage more than EOA wallets , the transition and usage will grow eventually.
Looking from the perspective of a onchain user AA wallets, can eventually try to interagte tools, or suggest products which can be used for like Dust tokens collection, cross chain,or any tool which makes it easier to get the tokens, brought collectively into a single AA account.
Basically a clumsier onboarding experience for the current users, which they won't hesitate to not do, and leave it for later.
3--Also, still the UX feels complex, as there are PRO and Lite versions of most of the Defi products, NFT Marketplaces, there needs to be a Lite version of AA wallets, which can basically do the stuff, it will eventually perform,at the back, according to the requirements, just the user sees much clearer UI to interact with.
Just the way a Swap aggregrator does it, choosing the various LP's which enable effecient exchange values, but the user don't necessarily needs to know from where it happened.
4-- One of the areas where AA contract accounts can be used are in the Supply Chain Finance, with the flow of IBTs (Interest Bearing tokens), across multiple sources when a product is bought IRL, all being done on chain, using SAA accounts,
which can enable yeilds drawn, even during cashflows. Exactly how and what can be done to make it happen, definitely requires a lot of research, but with one of the biggest markets touched, would exactly be the areas of further expansion for crypto accounts.
5--Most often it's seen the traffic in the trends has risen all due to announcments of new airdrops on various chains, but to derive the native traffic, aside the new web3 onboarders , it's also important to ease the flow of users from their native EOA accounts to smart-AA.
To eventually see better revenue generations from the daily Op (transactions) and bundlers making profits
Resources-
https://notes.ethereum.org/@vbuterin/account_abstraction_roadmap -Vitalik's roadmap on AA
https://docs.zerodev.app/extend-wallets/overview- for kernel
https://docs.particle.network/developers/btc-connect - particle network
https://github.com/rhinestonewtf/awesome-modular-accounts?tab=readme-ov-file - rhinestone's implementationof modular SAA
https://avocado.instadapp.io/
https://blog.getclave.io/ - Clave wallet
https://dune.com/sixdegree/erc6551 -dashboard for ERC-6551
https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4337 -Official reading for AA
https://github.com/erc6900/resources - More on modular AA
https://timelessx.notion.site/ - Timeless wallet
https://blog.ambire.com/account-abstraction-is-redefining-mobile-wallet-security/ - blog on AA redifing wallet security
https://github.com/4337Mafia/awesome-account-abstraction?tab=readme-ov-file - All in one place to learn more about AA
https://github.com/PaymagicXYZ/awesome-account-abstraction?tab=readme-ov-file - learn more on AA
https://docs.zerodev.app/ - one of the best docs availabkle to read
https://www.pimlico.io/ - Popular Infra provider
https://dune.com/sixdegree/account-abstraction-overview - best available dashboards to track AA activities