At WalletCon, an event leading up to the kick-off of ETH Denver, Ethereum announced the release of a new wallet standard, ERC-4337, which uses a new feature called “Account Abstraction” (AA). Something that its co-founder Vitalik Buterin had tweeted about as early as October 2022.

The new standard, also known as “Smart Wallets,” is built upon smart contracts and allows for easier crypto recovery for individuals who lose their private keys. Some groups like M3taverse believe that this new standard could be a catalyst for mass adoption — thanks to features like lower fees, bundled transactions, and subscription use cases.

The rumors are true… ERC-4337 has been deployed on mainnet ?

? Security audit by @OpenZeppelin
?️ Bundlers and paymasters by @stackup_fi, @AlchemyPlatform, @biconomy , @etherspot, @candidewallet, @blocknative & more
?️ $300K in grants by @ethereum pic.twitter.com/WOjMvaZe6M

— erc4337 (@erc4337) March 2, 2023

Ethereum’s new standard was swiftly deployed to its mainnet and is said to have undergone security audits, as well as already partnered with a variety of infrastructure providers, additionally, the Ethereum Foundation is issuing $300,000 USD to promote building on the new standard.

In simple terms, the goal of the standard is to help users who have lost their private keys recover their assets. This is done by abstracting the account layer from the execution layer, allowing users to interact with the blockchain without revealing their private key.

Other benefits include the ability to pay fees with ERC-20 tokens or non-Ethereum-based assets, low-cost multi-sig transactions, multiple asset transactions, subscriptions through automated recurring payments, and rate limiting to help control asset flows.

This works through a traditional wallet hosting the AA or smart wallet, which holds the digital assets. Should your traditional wallet become compromised, you’re able to switch over to another wallet and authorize access to your AA wallet.

In terms of rate limiting, this can also be a useful method to protect assets against hacks or exploits, with contracts being set to require two-factor authentication if a transaction exceeds a specific limit.

Elsewhere, Fast Company names 2023’s top 10 most innovative companies in Web3.