Exploring the Benefits of Account Abstraction on Ethereum

On Ethereum, transactions can only be initiated by externally owned accounts (EOAs) like Metamask, while contract accounts can implement arbitrary logic. However, for some use-cases like smart-contract wallets or privacy protocols, this difference can create a lot of friction.

This is where account abstraction comes in, allowing users to use smart contract wallets instead of EOAs. This removes the need for users to use EOAs in order to perform transactions. But what do contract accounts do that EOAs can't? Smart contracts are infinitely more flexible in their capabilities than EOAs. Each smart contract can define different rules and configurations within its code.

Currently, Ethereum users need an EOA with gas or rely on wallet providers to facilitate meta-transactions through relays. Relying on the wallet provider creates a lot of friction, and using an EOA with gas means buying ETH from centralized exchanges after KYC. RAILGUN is an already-deployed ZK account abstraction implementation that uses relayers, and these transactions are by definition meta-transactions.

Account abstraction would allow smart contract wallets to accept gasless meta-transactions from users and pay for their gas without relying on the relay network. This base-layer capability would dramatically boost the UX onboarding of such wallets without losing the decentralization assurances of Ethereum.