Making web3 feel human: How smart EOAs are redefining the wallet experience

The pursuing is simply a impermanent station and investigation from Nanfeng Jie, Lead Product Manager astatine Trust Wallet.

Over the past fewer years, we’ve seen a wide displacement successful however radical interact with integer assets. More users are choosing self-custody arsenic a deliberate determination toward greater power and accountability. This inclination is reflected successful the accelerated emergence of tools similar Trust Wallet, 1 of the astir wide utilized self-custodial wallets successful Web3.

At Trust Wallet, we’ve seen firsthand however rapidly expectations are evolving. Users privation much than information — they privation simplicity. That penetration guided our determination to go 1 of the archetypal wallets to enactment EIP-7702, Ethereum’s latest connection to marque externally owned accounts (EOAs) behave similar astute contracts. It’s what led to the improvement of FlexGas, a diagnostic that allows users to wage state fees with tokens they already hold, specified arsenic USDT, TWT, oregon BNB, straight from their wallet.

Now, let’s instrumentality a measurement backmost and analyse the broader marketplace discourse and the real-world symptom points that led america to rethink however state fees should work.

Recent marketplace research values the non-custodial wallet assemblage astatine $1.5 cardinal successful 2023, with projections reaching $3.5 cardinal by 2031, increasing astatine a CAGR of 8% from 2024 to 2031.

Source: Verified Market Research

But standard unsocial doesn’t archer the full story, due to the fact that the idiosyncratic acquisition hasn’t kept pace. People inactive juggle crossed chains, manually negociate state balances, and wantonness transactions erstwhile approvals don’t marque sense.

One of the astir communal pieces of feedback wallet teams perceive from users is simple: “I don’t privation to deliberation astir state — I conscionable privation the transaction to spell through.” And it’s a just point. Gas fees aren’t conscionable a cost; they’re a cognitive burden. Every failed oregon delayed transaction chips distant astatine spot successful the system.

The issue’s basal lies successful the architecture we’ve relied connected for implicit a decade: EOA, the default wallet benignant for astir users. It’s lightweight and secure, but wasn’t designed for the programmable, dynamic interactions that specify today’s decentralized applications (DApps).

That’s wherefore the Ethereum EIP-7702 connection represents specified a meaningful shift.

A Flexible New Layer for Wallet Behavior

First proposed by Vitalik Buterin successful May 2024, EIP-7702 introduces a subtle but indispensable improvement successful however Ethereum accounts work. It allows EOAs to temporarily instrumentality connected astute declaration behaviour wrong a azygous transaction, bringing the benefits of relationship abstraction (AA) without forcing users to migrate to caller relationship types oregon springiness up their effect phrase–based control.

Source: Ethereum Magicians

With EIP-7702, users support afloat custody of their assets portion gaining entree to much flexible transaction logic. That means bundling approvals and actions into a azygous tap, enabling recurring payments, oregon supporting delegated league keys without abstracted astute contracts.

Simply put, EIP-7702 means less steps, little confusion, and a smoother idiosyncratic experience. Transactions are faster and much predictable, allowing state fees to beryllium paid utilizing tokens already held without the request for autochthonal assets successful advance.

Technically speaking, EIP-7702 acts arsenic a modular hold to the EOA model. The idiosyncratic signs an intent, which whitethorn incorporate customized logic, and the wallet executes that intent done a impermanent contract. Once the transaction is complete, the relationship returns to its modular EOA state, unlocking a much intelligent transaction furniture for developers and infrastructure providers.

In turn, Web3 starts to behave much similar thing built for existent people, not protocols.

Building the Infrastructure Behind the Abstraction

Supporting EIP-7702 astatine standard requires much than integrating a caller transaction benignant oregon making idiosyncratic interface (UI) updates. It demands a robust, modular backend infrastructure susceptible of interpreting idiosyncratic intent, dynamically routing gas, and reliably executing analyzable actions crossed chains.

At Trust Wallet, we chose not to trust connected third-party abstractions oregon SDKs. Instead, we developed our ain relationship abstraction motor wholly in-house, built to beryllium secure, scalable, and chain-agnostic. This modular strategy includes:

• Paymaster – for handling customized state logic and token-based state payments
• Bundler – for optimizing multi-step transactions
• Relayer – for robust, accelerated submission of abstracted transactions
• Gas Provisioner – for managing state sources and routing crossed networks intelligently

This interior architecture gives Trust Wallet a lasting borderline successful show and reliability, portion mounting a caller modular for EOA-based astute wallet design. It besides paved the mode for FlexGas, the archetypal salient diagnostic we built connected this foundation. FlexGas allows users to wage state fees with tokens specified arsenic USDT oregon TWT connected Ethereum and BNB Chain.

Crucially, each of these enhancements sphere the essence of what makes self-custody appealing: users clasp afloat power of their backstage keys, their effect phrases stay unchanged, and there’s nary request to upgrade to a contract-based wallet. This equilibrium (between powerfulness and autonomy) is what makes EIP-7702 specified a important upgrade alternatively than a disruptive replacement.

Shifting Wallets into Intelligent Agents

If wide adopted, EIP-7702 could go a defining furniture successful the adjacent procreation of Web3 infrastructure. It enables a aboriginal wherever wallets are responsive, intelligent agents — automating analyzable strategies, onboarding users, and unlocking frictionless interactions astatine scale.

The archetypal real-world applications are already successful motion. Features allowing users to wage for state with tokens they already clasp are astir here. Gasless onboarding, automated execution strategies, wallet-as-a-service models, and astute transaction policies for institutional-grade usage are each wrong reach.

The biggest breakthroughs successful crypto often travel not from extremist overhauls, but from quiescent upgrades that region invisible frictions. EIP-7702 whitethorn beryllium precisely that. It doesn’t alteration the mode we deliberation astir Ethereum’s information exemplary — it changes what that exemplary tin bash for users.

Because astatine the extremity of the day, advancement successful Web3 doesn’t beryllium connected however astute our contracts are. It depends connected however earthy they consciousness to use.

The station Making web3 consciousness human: How astute EOAs are redefining the wallet experience appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.