If you were asked to point out a problem with Ethereum wallet transactions, what would you choose to point out?
Are there various complicated operations that are not friendly to beginners?
Or is it simply impossible to operate when the gas is high?
Let me first introduce that the wallet account we are using now is called an externally owned account (EOA). For example, the wallet account generated by MetaMask and Ledger is an EOA.
Generally, when we interact with smart contracts on Ethereum, users need to have EOA, which is a simple account type that can only send transactions by signing with a private key. In terms of experience, EOA is not very friendly to novices, for example:
Users need to securely manage their own private keys, which can be difficult and risky for beginners or non-technical users.
Users need to pay gas fees in ether for every transaction they send, which can become expensive and unstable depending on network congestion and demand.
Users need to specify the gas limit and gas price for each transaction, which can be confusing and error-prone for inexperienced users.
Once transactions are sent, users have limited control over them, such as being unable to cancel or replace them if they get stuck or mispriced.
To solve these problems, the Ethereum community proposed a new standard: ERC-4337. ERC-4337 stands for "Ethereum Request for Comment 4337", which is a way of naming proposals to improve the Ethereum protocol. ERC-4337 allows for account abstraction, which means that users can interact with smart contracts using smart contract wallets instead of using EOAs.
Smart contract wallets are accounts controlled by smart contracts rather than private keys. They can have more functionality and flexibility than EOAs, such as:
Users can delegate the management of their private keys to a trusted third party or use recovery mechanisms to prevent them from losing access to their keys.
Users can pay for gas in any token they want, or use a paymaster or sponsor to pay for them.
Users can set rules and conditions for their transactions, such as minimum or maximum gas prices, time limits, approval processes, and more.
Users can modify or cancel transactions they send using meta transactions or the Lightning Network.
ERC-4337 was deployed on the Ethereum mainnet on March 1, 2023, having been initially proposed in September 2021. It was announced by Ethereum developer Yoav Weiss at WalletCon in Denver, Colorado.
ERC-4337 is an important upgrade for Ethereum because it simplifies and enhances the user experience of interacting with smart contracts. It also opens up new possibilities for innovation and adoption of decentralized applications on Ethereum.
By using a smart contract wallet that supports ERC-4337, users can enjoy more security, convenience, and flexibility when using Ethereum.
ERC-4337 is a major improvement for Ethereum because it lowers the barrier to entry and increases the usability of the platform. It also gives users more control over their accounts and transactions while reducing their reliance on Ether as a medium of exchange.
With ERC-4337, playing with NFT becomes more convenient?
Let’s take a closer look at the two sentences above:
“Users can pay for gas in any token they want, or use a paymaster or sponsor to pay for them.”
“Users can set rules and conditions for their transactions, such as minimum or maximum gas prices, time limits, approval processes, etc.”
We all know that when playing NFT, we must always pay attention to the amount of gas. If the gas is high when playing, then minting is another cost. In addition, sometimes the minting time is often in the early morning or midnight, and you have to stay up late to mint.
ERC-4337 allows gas fees to be 0. With this function, NFT project owners can sponsor gas fees for users, so players don’t have to pay for it themselves. At the same time, it can support multiple operations to be packaged into one transaction, making transactions faster and more efficient.
ERC-4377 also supports automatic transactions, including adjusting the maximum and minimum limits of gas, timed mint and other functions, which makes it more convenient for users.
Of course, most people now still use the EOA account type. Accounts like Little Fox do not support ERC-4377. When it is widely used, the ecological market rules of NFT may change dramatically. Let us wait and see.
