A brief analysis of 11 account abstraction wallets: How far are we from a "silky" encryption experience?

Author: Cookie, ChainCatcher
 
In the field of cryptocurrency, users cannot set multiple private keys for the same wallet address, nor can they modify the private key. Therefore, if the private key is lost, not only will the wallet assets be lost, but the wallet will also be unable to be used again and can only be invalidated.
According to Conor Grogan, director of product strategy and business operations at Coinbase, about $1.15 billion in cryptocurrencies have been permanently lost due to human error. Grogan added that this statistic is far lower than the amount of ETH locked up due to lost wallet access, because there are a large number of long-term unmoved assets on the chain, and it is impossible to determine how many of them have lost private keys.
Crypto wallets have always been a long-term focus of Ethereum founder Vitalik. With the help of Vitalik, researchers from Nethermind and opengsn proposed EIP-4337, which proposed a solution to bring "account abstraction" to Ethereum without changing any consensus layer protocols. Recently, Vitalik expounded on his views in his article "How to Choose Guardians for Multi-Signature Wallets and Social Recovery Wallets?", and is committed to promoting the adoption of trusted third parties (Guardians, also known as guardians) in crypto wallets.
Recently, compared with old crypto wallets such as Metamask and Imtoken, some crypto wallets based on EIP-4337 have begun to emerge, trying to reopen the blue ocean of the crypto wallet track. This article will briefly introduce the concept of EIP-4337 (account abstraction), as well as 11 account abstraction wallets such as Argent, Avocado, Braavos, Patch Wallet, Unipass, Opclave, Soul Wallet, and Versa.
 
What is EIP-4337 used for?
 
Currently, Ethereum wallet addresses are divided into EOA accounts (Externally Owned Accounts) and contract accounts (Contract Accounts). The EIP-4337 proposal proposes the concept of Account Abstraction, which can be used to manage multiple contract accounts and external accounts to improve the security and operability of Ethereum accounts. If you want to learn more about the mechanism, you can refer to "Can the EIP-4337 Account Abstraction Wallet Solution Open Up a New Era of Wallets?"
Using EIP-4337 can bring the following benefits:
More efficient contract deployment and maintenance: Since multiple contracts can share the same address and private key, the workload of contract deployment and maintenance can be reduced.
Better security: Since the account contract only represents one address and private key, the risk of private key leakage can be reduced.
Better scalability: Complex contract logic can be implemented more easily due to the possibility of reusable contract code.
In short, the vision of EIP-4337 is to achieve user-friendliness, mainly from the two aspects of ease of use and social recovery, attracting new users by improving the UI experience of crypto wallets, for example, new users no longer need to copy mnemonics when registering. Users can also retrieve their wallet private keys through social relationships after losing them. Other extended functions include multi-account/multi-chain management, bundled packaging transactions, etc., such as allowing wallets to automatically renew services.
The difficulty in implementing EIP-4337 lies in the challenges of development costs, compatibility, and user privacy after complicating the wallet, as well as higher gas fees generated by complex interactive contracts.
 
Account Abstract Wallet
 
Money
Argent Wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet designed with a focus on security and ease of use. Its main features include:
Social Recovery: Argent’s social recovery feature allows users to recover their wallets by connecting with trusted contacts. This makes it easier for users to recover their wallets without having to remember complex mnemonics or private keys.
No need to use ETH as gas fee: Argent uses MetaTransaction technology to enable users to send transactions without owning ETH. Specifically, Argent pays gas fees for users through the middle layer service of "Gas Station Network (GSN)" and deducts the corresponding fees from the user's account.
Attack Detection: Argent Wallet uses its self-developed "Guardians" smart contract to automatically detect and prevent phishing attacks, malware attacks, replay attacks, etc. For example, when a user receives an email or text message that appears to be from the Argent Wallet, the Guardians contract will detect whether the information comes from the official Argent channel. If it is detected that the information is not from the official channel, the Guardians contract will automatically prevent the user from performing any transactions related to the information.
Argent has completed three rounds of financing, with a total financing amount of US$56 million. Investors include Fabric Ventures, Metaplanet, Paradigm, StarkWare, Jump Crypto, Animoca Brands, etc. At present, the user group of Argent wallet is relatively small, mainly due to the stability of the ZK network and the lack of support for the storage and trading of multiple cryptocurrencies.
 
Avocado（Instadapp）
Instadapp is an Ethereum-based DeFi protocol that aims to make DeFi simpler and easier to manage. The protocol launched an account abstraction-based wallet Avocado, whose main features include the following aspects:
Multi-chain support: Avocado supports multiple blockchains. Users can manage multiple cryptocurrencies in the same wallet, and all gas fees are paid with USDC.
Security: Avocado wallet uses multi-signature technology and smart contracts to ensure the security of users' digital assets, and also supports the connection of hardware wallets.
DeFi Services: Users can directly access a variety of decentralized applications in the Avocado wallet, such as lending, trading, stablecoins, etc. In addition, users can use all current Instadapp strategies for free.
Community governance: The Avocado wallet adopts the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) governance model, and users can participate in the decision-making and development of the wallet through voting.
At present, Instadapp has completed 2 rounds of financing, with a total financing amount of 12.4 million US dollars. Investors include Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital, Standard Crypto, Robot Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, etc. At present, the total TVL of Instadapp's multiple products exceeds 2 billion US dollars, and Avocado, as an integrated wallet developed by it, enjoys the advantages of network effects, such as no fees for using flash loans, 1 USDC gas fee subsidy, free use of Instadapp's automated investment strategy, etc.
 
Braavos
Braavos is an open source account abstraction layer that provides an easy way to manage multiple accounts and provides a unified interface for applications. Its features include:
Multiple account support: Braavos supports managing multiple accounts, including bank accounts, Alipay, PayPal, etc.
Unified API: Braavos provides a unified API so that applications can use the same code to handle different account types.
Security: Braavos uses the OAuth2 protocol to handle authorization and authentication, ensuring data security.
Easy to extend: Braavos is designed so that it can be easily extended to support new account types and services.
Automation: Braavos automatically handles account balances and transaction history, allowing applications to focus on core business logic.
Braavos has currently raised $10 million in funding, led by Pantera Capital, with participation from StarkWare, Crypto.com Capital, Matrixport Ventures, etc. Braavos' hardware security module is implemented through account abstraction and has the ability to verify any signature.
 
UniPass
UniPass Wallet is a smart contract wallet solution that supports on-chain email social recovery. It aims to provide a familiar user experience for Web2 users. Its features are as follows:
Compatible with ERC-4337: Users can activate ERC-4337 compatibility mode by adding a 4337 module transaction in MainModule. After activation, transactions initiated by users will be submitted to Bundler and verified by standard ERC-4337 methods. Users can also sign UniPass tx and submit it to Relayer for on-chain processing.
Email recovery: Users can set up multiple Internet mailboxes as guardians of their accounts. Simply submitting emails to the on-chain smart contract can help users recover their wallet private keys. When a user has more than two guardian mailboxes (including the primary mailbox), the user can use these two mailboxes to submit account recovery emails and restore the account immediately. When a user has only one guardian mailbox, it is usually necessary to wait for a 48-hour lock period before the account can be restored.
Gas-free experience: UniPass provides a default relay node that accepts users’ gas payments in the form of native tokens and mainstream stablecoins.
UniPass completed its seed round of financing with HashKey Capital in April 2022. Compared with other wallets, UniPass supports all EVM blockchains, and mainstream non-EVM chains are also on the roadmap. In addition, UniPass attaches great importance to the developer experience and provides multiple SDKs for integration into dApps.
Soul Wallet
Soul Wallet is a plug-in wallet that enables users to: 1. Create a wallet without a mnemonic 2. Maintain a wallet by changing the signing key. 3. Reduce gas fees by 30% through signature aggregation. 4. Support USDC payment transactions. 5. Sponsored by a third party, no gas fee required. 6. Bundle multiple transactions together.
Soul Wallet completed a $3.1 million seed round of financing on March 16, with participation from Struck Crypto, NGC Ventures, Alchemy, Signum Capital, etc. Its founder Zeng Jiajun is a former product manager of ByteDance and Meituan. Soul Wallet plans to launch in the third or fourth quarter.
 
Versa
Versa is a one-stop UX-simplified smart contract wallet, through which users can easily access keyless and social login crypto wallets, manage gas and recover on-chain accounts, set up automatic spending, automate investment strategies, etc. Versa announced the completion of its seed round of financing on March 23, with STEPN developer Find Satoshi Lab, Folius Ventures and some angel investors participating. Versa is currently in closed beta.
 
Peaze
Peaze is a wallet that allows users to access Web3 applications via email and credit cards. Peaze uses smart contracts to control private key access and signatures. When a user confirms a transaction, a standard transaction signature is generated, which then triggers the onboarding process, charging the user's fiat payment method and sending the appropriate amount of cryptocurrency to their wallet. Any necessary exchange/bridge procedures are also performed during this step.
 
Opclave
Opclave allows users to create and use non-custodial wallets with touch/face ID without a seed phrase. Opclave improves OP Stack's SC account using ERC-4337, using signatures abstracted by AppleEnclave, and its core idea is to turn Apple devices, iPhones, Macbooks into hardware wallets. Opclave is the winner of the Ethereum Scaling Hackathon, Hack the Stack.
Patch Wallet
Patch Wallet is a crypto wallet that supports login using GitHub/Twitter/Email. It does not require a seed phrase. The wallet supports multiple mainstream cryptocurrencies, and users can manage multiple cryptocurrencies in the same wallet. Users can also easily manage and switch multiple accounts without re-importing private keys. In addition, Patch Wallet supports hardware wallets, and users can store private keys in hardware devices for increased security.
 
ZeroDev
ZeroDev is an SDK built on top of ERC-4337 for building Web3 applications powered by account abstraction. Using ZeroDev, you can create easy-to-use applications that allow users to recover accounts through friends without mnemonics, allow third-party payment users to skip GAS completely, and merge transaction steps to improve user experience, save time and cost, and improve security.
 
SequenceSequence Wallet is a non-custodial wallet designed for seamless integration, compatible with all EVM public chains, supports social/email login, fiat payment providers such as Moonpay and Ramp, uses various currencies to pay gas fees, and more.
 
summary
 
Wallets based on ERC-4337 focus on abstracting the underlying functions. Social recovery, no native gas fees, and bundled transactions are features that can greatly improve the UI experience. In addition, modular development platforms that integrate ERC-4377 may become mainstream. Such as Patch, Sequence, and Gelote, which are not listed.
Account abstraction wallets may need a more "Make Sense" case to be widely adopted. At this stage, the "no gas fee" slogans of many projects are somewhat misleading. The logic behind it is just to allow users to use non-ETH currencies such as USDC to pay for gas, and the subsidy strategy seems to have little effect. On the other hand, the multi-chain dilemma of wallets has not been significantly improved. Wallets that claim to be able to achieve "multi-chain" are only for EVM-compatible chains, while ecological wallets such as zk, Move, and Solana are still trapped in the island effect.
Smart contract wallets are becoming a trend, and other competitors have emerged in the segmented track. MPC wallets store private keys in multiple devices in a decentralized manner, and realize functions such as no private keys and social recovery through multi-party computing. For example, on March 7, it was announced that the MPC wallet Capsule led by a16z was completed, which expanded the use scenarios of on-chain transactions by introducing programmable MPC. At the same time, Telegram, which has a huge user base, plans to launch a crypto wallet, which currently supports direct trading of BTC, TON and USDT in the application chat interface. These competitors are also competing for users and are constantly launching new features and services.