Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 3074 will go live during Ethereum’s next hard fork, dubbed ‘Pectra,’ and many in the Ethereum community are very excited that it’s finally coming to fruition. 

Initially proposed by Ethereum researchers Sam Wilson, Ansgar Dietrichs, Matt Garnett, and Micah Zoltu in October 2020, EIP-3074 will be included in the next fork, as decided on Thursday on Ethereum All Core Developers call, and is designed to improve Ethereum wallet usability. It proposes a new set of code changes that would allow users to batch multiple transactions together and confirm them in a single action, unlike now where users usually have to sign at least two transactions to, for example, swap an asset on a decentralized exchange.

“This is a big deal. Wallet [user experience] will 10x,” wrote Georgios Konstantopoulos, research partner at crypto VC Paradigm, on X.

EIP-3074 suggests a novel way to extend the functionalities of externally owned accounts (EOAs) by delegating control to a smart contract. This method allows users to enjoy some of the advantages of smart contract wallets while keeping the straightforward approach of EOAs. Unlike account abstraction (ERC-4337), which focuses on transaction sponsoring and relaying, EIP-3074 lays the foundation for these new features to be possibly added in future proposals.

By enabling EOAs to interact like smart contract wallets, EIP-3074 could redefine how wallets operate, easing the transition to advanced wallet systems without requiring users to undertake complex migrations. “This is huge, because it allows EOAs to be magically converted to Smart Accounts,” wrote Ivo Georgiev, CEO of Ambire, on social media. 

Learn more: What Are Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) in Ethereum?

The proposal also aligns with the broader goal of ensuring a smoother user experience across multiple EVM-compatible chains, maintaining consistency as users navigate different platforms.

The community’s support for EIP-3074 reflects its potential to simplify transaction processes and enhance the Ethereum network’s usability, making it a significant upgrade anticipated by both developers and users alike. Hayden Adams, founder of prominent DEX Uniswap, posted on X: “EIP-3074 inclusion will be a monumental upgrade to Ethereum UX.” 

Meanwhile, Dan Finlay, MetaMask’s cofounder, said: “3074 couldn’t come at a better time: There’s momentum to define an onchain permissions system for smart contract accounts, and 3074 can allow EOAs to still enjoy some of its benefits.”

Not Everyone Agrees

While there is significant excitement around EIP-3074, not everyone in the Ethereum community is equally enthusiastic.

Martin Köppelmann from Gnosis voiced his concerns, saying that the EIP “brings us in a weird state with EOAs getting some of the benefits but not all, such as no option for key rotation.” He explained that instead of moving towards a unified and improved future, EIP-3074 could solidify the division between two different types of wallet technologies—smart contracts and traditional EOAs.

Moreover, Köppelmann criticized its revocation capabilities, arguing that they provide only a “fake sense of security.” He wrote: “After 3074, an EOA will always have the danger that signing one wrong message can mean you lose anything this account controls.” 

Köppelmann’s criticism was echoed by 0xngmi from DefiLlama, who pointed out that with EIP-3074, “it’ll be possible to fully drain an address (all tokens, all nfts, all defi positions…) with only one bad signature.”