Author: Josh O'Sullivan, CoinTelegraph; Translator: Tao Zhu, Golden Finance
The Ethereum network has recently become a hot topic in the crypto community due to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's claim of sole ownership of the Ethereum Foundation and speculation that the Trump family will build a "giant enterprise" on Ethereum.
In an exclusive interview, members of the Ethereum Foundation, Trust Wallet, Safe, Alchemy, and Rhinestone discussed the new ERC-7779 token standard and its impact on the Ethereum ecosystem.
ERC-7779 is designed to build on previous Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) such as EIP-7702, which introduced execution abstractions for Ethereum accounts and allowed the creation of externally owned accounts (EOAs).
The new standard aims to address challenges associated with Ethereum’s evolving account system, introducing a unified framework for enhanced interoperability, secure wallet transitions, and simplified storage management.
ERC-7779: Purpose and Applications
ERC-7779 builds on improvements introduced in Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), such as EIP-7702, which enables Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to operate more like Smart Accounts.
Richard Meissner, co-founder of Safe, noted that the importance of the new token standard is that it ensures Smart Accounts remain interoperable.
“Smart Accounts bring a lot of benefits. One of them is the possibility of upgradeable logic. With EIP-7702 in the upcoming Pectra upgrade, this now extends to EOAs as well,” he said.
Marissa Posnor, Product Manager at the Ethereum Foundation, explained the need for ERC-7779, noting its role in creating a standardized interface for managing delegated EOAs and supporting re-delegation securely and efficiently:
“ERC-7779 addresses these challenges by defining a standard interface for delegated EOAs to manage the storage base and support re-delegation securely and efficiently.”
“The timing is critical as the Ethereum ecosystem expands and user expectations for wallet functionality and interoperability continue to grow. Furthermore, ERC-7779 is not unique to EIP-7702; it also provides value to Smart Accounts beyond 7702,” she added.
Simplifying the User Experience with ERC-7779
The new token standard is also designed to simplify wallet migration for non-technical users, enabling them to move between wallets without technical barriers or losing access to their assets.
David Kim, head of technology at Trust Wallet, said that ERC-7779 “strikes an effective balance”, creating a standard that is “really useful and easy for wallet developers to adopt”.
Rhinestone co-founder Konrad Kopp said the new token standard “doesn’t simplify the user experience for end users” but rather gives EOA users the option to switch securely between Smart Account implementations.
Use Cases and Developer Adoption
In addition to its primary goal of establishing greater interoperability, ERC-7779 is designed to make advanced features such as transaction batching, automation, and gas abstraction more accessible.
Alchemy technical lead Fangting Liu noted that collaboration on the new token standard is “easy to adopt across the ecosystem,” allowing developers to access and verify information across Smart Account implementations.
“ERC-7779 introduces a solution that mitigates the risks that come with improper storage management in Smart Account implementations,” Liu said. “It enables developers and users to safely transition between implementations as their needs evolve, ensuring a more secure and flexible environment.”
These developments could be a turning point for the Ethereum ecosystem, giving users access to advanced features within a more secure framework and making “Smart Account superpowers mainstream,” Meissner said.