Ethereum’s upcoming Pectra upgrade, anticipated for late 2024 or early 2025, promises significant advancements in crypto wallets and user experience (UX). One key addition is Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 3074, approved for integration in the upcoming update, which transforms regular crypto wallets into smart contracts.
Key Features of EIP-3074
- Smart Contract Capabilities for Regular Wallets: EIP-3074 enables standard externally owned accounts (EOAs), such as MetaMask wallets, to function like smart contracts. This facilitates features like transaction bundling and sponsored transactions, akin to account abstraction introduced in ERC-4337.
- Concerns and Benefits: While some express concerns about potential security vulnerabilities, others emphasize the convenience and functionality of sponsored transactions. Users can now delegate funds from a wallet-controlled contract, reducing the need for Ether in the wallet itself.
- Innovative Features: EIP-3074 also introduces a social recovery feature, eliminating the reliance on traditional seed phrases. This adds a layer of convenience and accessibility to wallet recovery processes.
- Technical Insights: The EIP transforms wallets into smart contracts by incorporating two new operating instructions — AUTH and AUTHCALL. AUTH verifies signatures and actions, while AUTHCALL calls target contracts with the originator address as the caller, enhancing functionality and flexibility.
Pectra Update and Ethereum’s Roadmap
The Pectra upgrade follows the successful implementation of the Dencun update, which lowered transaction fees on layer-2 solutions. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also outlined plans for the “Purge,” aimed at simplifying the network by removing outdated data.
Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade represents a significant step forward in enhancing wallet functionality and user experience, offering innovative features and addressing longstanding challenges in the Ethereum ecosystem.