Ethereum

Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade, slated for late 2024 or early 2025, is bringing with it a host of more functionality for crypto wallets and upgrades to their user experience (UX).
<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/ethereum-eips">Ethereum Improvement Proposal</a>&nbsp;(EIP) 3074&nbsp;was <a href="https://twitter.com/TimBeiko/status/1778490341437681684" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">approved</a> for inclusion in the next update, which <a href="https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-3074" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">allows</a> normal crypto wallets to work like smart contracts.
One of EIP-3074’s functions gives standard <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/architectural-components-of-the-ethereum-blockchain-what-are-they">externally owned accounts</a> (EOAs), normal wallets such as a MetaMask wallet, smart contract capabilities. 
This allows functions such as transaction bundling, so users only have to sign once, and sponsored transactions where a wallet can delegate funds for use by another, similar to <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/account-abstraction-guide-to-ethereums-erc-4337-standard">account abstraction</a> that was introduced in ERC-4337. 
Anonymous DefiLlama developer 0xngmi claimed in an April 11 X <a href="https://twitter.com/0xngmi/status/1778539816180965778" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">post</a> that the EIP’s downside is “now it’ll be possible to fully drain an address (all tokens, all NFTs, all DeFi positions...) with only one bad signature.”
Gaslite co-founder Harrison Leggio <a href="https://twitter.com/PopPunkOnChain/status/1778514864811426266" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">wrote</a> on X that while there are security concerns with the update, “people will always find a way to lose their money.”
“People literally GIVE THEIR PRIVATE KEYS TO TRADING BOTS,” he added.
Software engineer Laurence Day <a href="https://twitter.com/functi0nZer0/status/1778447288139911404" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">wrote</a>&nbsp;that the EIP’s “most obviously useful application” was its sponsored transactions, as it allowed users to “store assets in a wallet that doesn’t hold Ether,” and they could sponsor the gas from a contract controlling the wallet.
Other slated functions of EIP-3074 include a <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereums-pectra-hard-fork-could-solve-lost-private-keys">social recovery feature</a> that negates the need for the typical 12-to-24-word seed phrase.
Anonymous Web3 adviser Cygaar&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/0xCygaar/status/1778522763428532345" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">explained</a> on X that the EIP turns wallets into smart contracts by adding two new operating instructions — AUTH and AUTHCALL.
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/history-crypto-ethereum-winter-landmarks">History of Crypto: Crypto winter and Ethereum landmarks</a>
AUTH verifies signatures and actions. AUTHCALL then “calls the target contract(s) with the originator address as the caller” rather than the message sender, Cygaar wrote.
<figure data-ct-non-breakable="true">
 <img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-04/4a98ba6f-e8ea-46f4-a2d1-861eae58f0ab.png" alt="" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/0xCygaar/status/1778522781631779014" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Cygaar</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
The planned Pectra update comes after Ethereum developers pushed through the Dencun update last month, which <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-dencun-transaction-fees-l2">lowered layer-2 transaction fees</a>.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also shared in early April the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/vitalik-buterin-next-steps-ethereum-purge">next steps</a> for the “Purge,” which would remove old and excess network history in order to simplify it.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/ethereums-layer-2-zk-rollups-can-become-interoperable/">Here’s how Ethereum’s ZK-rollups can become interoperable</a>

Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade to make normal wallets ‘smart’ and improve UX

Cointelegraph

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