Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum Wallet Proposal, Scribbled in 22 Minutes, Gets Positive Reviews

It reportedly took him 22 minutes.

The tale began just a month ago when Ethereum’s team opted to incorporate Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-3074 – enabling specific wallet functions to be governed by smart contracts – into their upcoming major network overhaul, referred to as the Pectra fork.

The process of streamlining Ethereum wallets is a part of an advanced technology shift referred to as account abstraction. In this transition, Ethereum’s external owned accounts (EOAs), which are the most commonly used wallets on the blockchain, will be transformed into smart contract wallets from the outside.

Following the unveiling of EIP-3074, some members of the community lauded the proposal, while others voiced their opposition. The primary issue raised was its incompatibility with an earlier version, ERC-4437, that had been operational on the mainnet since February 2023.

As an analyst, I’d rephrase it this way: A few days following the release of EIP-3074, Buterin collaborated on a fresh proposal, named EIP-7702, which presents an alternative solution to what is currently planned for the Pectra upgrade.

Core Ethereum developer Ansgar Dietrichs, who collaborated with Buterin on EIP-3074 and EIP-7702, mentioned during an interview with CoinDesk that the latest proposal emerged from about a week’s worth of involvement in the account abstraction discourse spearheaded by Buterin.

Following the completion of the research, Buterin was acknowledged by Dietrichs to have “significantly expedited” the process of drafting that EIP.

“I challenged him to do it in 15,” Dietrichs recalled. “It took him 22.”

As a researcher studying Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), I’ve noticed a significant buzz surrounding EIP-7712 since its release. It appears that this proposal is gaining traction and may potentially supersede the previously popular EIP-3074.

In her May 20 research note, Christine Kim, a vice president of research at Galaxy Digital, expressed that all relevant parties hold favorable views towards Buterin’s alternative.

“I believe one of the most significant upgrades Ethereum will undergo is the one Jarrod Watts, Polygon‘s developer relations engineer, referred to on X as ‘it.’ This change could potentially bring about Ethereum’s most impactful transformation… ever.”

Currently, EIP-3074 is planned to be activated together with Pectra. However, this could shift depending on the finalization of EIP-7022’s specifics.

“Dietrichs shared with CoinDesk that while there is ongoing debate about the specific distinctions between 3074 and its potential replacement, it’s reasonable to anticipate this change may occur.”

Kim from Galaxy proposed that the depicted episode served as a practical illustration of Ethereum’s decentralized governance system in action.

Engaging in open dialogue amongst various stakeholders in an open-source project can lead to the discovery of innovative solutions, resulting in a clearer direction for the project and increased agreement among its contributors.

Once Buterin got involved, it didn’t take long.