Vitalik unveils plan to make crypto wallets as easy as email

At a recent conference, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin discussed upcoming improvements to crypto wallets through a protocol upgrade called account abstraction.

This would allow users to recover seed phrases and manage wallets through smart contracts, like resetting an email password. It aims to make self-custody wallets much more user-friendly.

Vitalik believes this elegantly designed upgrade could drive worldwide adoption without changing Ethereum's base layer. It would enable features like easy backup, lower transaction fees, and multi-sig wallets.

By removing the need to hold ETH to pay gas fees, account abstraction could allow users to pay fees in whatever token they are transacting with. This could significantly improve usability.

Combined with other in-progress upgrades like proto-danksharding, account abstraction demonstrates Ethereum's commitment to both scaling and mainstream adoption.

While the road to mass adoption is long, improvements like simplified wallets are important steps. According to Vitalik, upgrades like this will be "a pretty big deal" for crypto users worldwide.