The Ethereum community has shown strong support for EIP-3074 during the 183rd ACDE meeting, officially including it in the next Ethereum hard fork after over three years of development and refinement. Proposed by researchers like Sam Wilson and Go Ethereum developer Matt Garnett, this enhancement aims to transform how users interact with the network. Its core innovation allows any Externally Owned Account (EOA) to function like a smart contract wallet—without requiring additional contract deployment or manual migration. As Paradigm CTO Georgios Konstantopoulos noted, it could improve wallet user experience by "10x." But how does it achieve this, and how does it differ from ERC-4337?
How EIP-3074 Upgrades the Ethereum Virtual Machine
An Externally Owned Account (EOA) is a user-controlled account on Ethereum, commonly created via mnemonic phrase wallets like MetaMask. EIP-3074 introduces two new opcodes to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM): AUTH and AUTHCALL. These enable an EOA to connect with a smart contract and delegate transaction control to it.
- AUTH Instruction: Verifies an ECDSA signature and sets a context variable 'authorized' based on the result. If the signature is valid and matches the designated authorizing address, 'authorized' is set to that address. This allows a smart contract to perform actions on behalf of an EOA, enabling delegated control.
- AUTHCALL Instruction: Functions similarly to the existing CALL opcode but uses the authorized address set by AUTH as the caller address. This means the transaction appears to originate from the user's EOA, not the contract itself.
The overall process works as follows: a user signs an authorization message, an Invoker contract receives and validates it, then uses AUTH and AUTHCALL to send transactions on the user's behalf—all without directly accessing the user's private key. Results are then returned to the user.
Key Differences Between EIP-3074 and ERC-4337
While both proposals aim to improve wallet functionality and user experience, they take fundamentally different approaches.
ERC-4337 operates at the protocol level and doesn't require changes to Ethereum's consensus layer. Its primary goal is account abstraction, allowing smart contracts to directly hold funds and initiate transactions like EOAs. This would make smart contract accounts behave more like traditional user accounts.
In contrast, EIP-3074 requires a hard fork to implement changes to the EVM itself. Its main objective is to赋予 EOAs with smart contract-like capabilities by delegating control to smart contracts. This enables batch transactions, sponsored transactions (where a third party pays gas fees), and other advanced features. Critically, the account remains an EOA—if private keys are compromised, users could lose all assets unless special recovery contracts are implemented.
Why EIP-3074 Matters for Ethereum's Future
In today's multi-chain ecosystem, supporting ERC-4337 across every blockchain demands significant development effort. Other proposals like EIP-7377 require users to manually send migration transactions to transition their EOAs to smart contracts. EIP-3074 offers a more streamlined approach: it enables EOAs to gain smart contract functionality across all chains without manual migration.
The proposal's优势 lies in its simplicity and efficiency. Users can access advanced smart contract features without additional processes. After addressing initial technical security concerns through extensive testing and improvements, the community now broadly supports including EIP-3074 in the next upgrade. This could significantly impact several areas within the Ethereum ecosystem.
In DeFi, EIP-3074's batch transaction capability could dramatically improve efficiency for liquidity providers and traders while reducing participation costs. Additionally, by authorizing applications to execute transactions on their behalf, users could benefit from gas sponsorship programs where DeFi protocols cover transaction fees—lowering barriers to entry and potentially driving mass adoption.
For fully on-chain gaming, EIP-3074 enables users to grant operational permissions to third parties (Invokers) through authorization. This eliminates the need for users to confirm and pay gas fees for each transaction individually. Game developers or other third parties can execute transactions on users' behalf after a one-time authorization, streamlining processes and enhancing gameplay fluidity. 👉 Explore more strategies for efficient blockchain interactions
Understanding Potential Security Considerations
In Ethereum transactions, validators need precise transaction details to process them correctly, ensuring network security and stability. EIP-3074's approach, which allows smart contracts to execute transactions on behalf of EOAs, introduces complexity—particularly with sponsored transactions. Interactions between contracts or accounts might alter account states before and after execution, making it challenging for validators to predict transaction impacts accurately and potentially creating network inconsistency risks.
Furthermore, while users can authorize third parties to operate their accounts via signatures, this delegation could create vulnerabilities. If third-party permissions are misused or Invoker contracts are compromised, user funds and personal information might be at risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an Externally Owned Account (EOA)?
An EOA is a user-controlled Ethereum account created through private keys or seed phrases. Unlike smart contract accounts, EOAs cannot contain code and have traditionally been limited to basic transaction functionality without programmable capabilities.
How does EIP-3074 improve upon existing account abstraction proposals?
EIP-3074 provides immediate functionality to existing EOAs without requiring contract deployment or manual migration. It offers a backward-compatible solution that works across all Ethereum-compatible chains, whereas other solutions often require chain-specific implementation.
Can EIP-3074 and ERC-4337 coexist?
Yes, these proposals address different aspects of account functionality. EIP-3074 enhances EOAs with smart contract capabilities, while ERC-4337 enables smart contracts to behave like EOAs. They represent complementary approaches to improving user experience.
What are sponsored transactions?
Sponsored transactions allow third parties to pay gas fees on behalf of users. This can significantly improve user experience by eliminating the need to maintain ETH for gas costs, particularly beneficial for new users or specific applications like gaming and social platforms.
How does EIP-3074 affect wallet security?
While EIP-3074 introduces convenient features, it maintains the same security model as traditional EOAs. Private keys remain the sole access mechanism, meaning key compromise still results in total fund loss unless additional recovery mechanisms are implemented separately.
When will EIP-3074 be implemented?
The proposal has been accepted for inclusion in Ethereum's next hard fork, though specific timing depends on network consensus and successful testing. The community will continue to evaluate and address any potential security considerations before full implementation.