In 2024, Ethereum made significant progress in the development direction centered on Rollup by introducing blob space through the Dencun upgrade, which helped L2 reduce transaction costs by 10 to 100 times.
What are the Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) and Ethereum Requests for Comments (ERCs) worth closely watching in 2025?
This article will review five Ethereum upgrades worth noting, some of which are confirmed to be launched in the Pectra upgrade, while others will take longer to realize but have received attention from some well-known supporters.
EIP-3074
A prominent improvement in the Pectra upgrade is EIP-3074. Users can combine multiple transactions into one, project parties can fund user transactions and pay their Gas fees, and a new method is added to recover wallets in case users lose their private keys.
EIP-3074 introduces new Ethereum opcodes. This system will allow EOA users to authorize smart contracts to perform operations on their behalf in a single transaction, while retaining the security and control of not permanently transferring the private key.
These new opcodes enable the following user-friendly utilities:
- Transaction batching - the ability to batch multiple transactions (such as multiple token transfers) into a single operation.
- Sponsored transactions - the ability for a third party to pay for the transaction's Gas fees, opening up new avenues for applications to pay Gas fees for their users.
- Conditional transactions - complex transaction structures where multiple steps can be chained and conditionally executed, such as transactions that only execute if certain conditions are met, without the need for separate transactions for each step.
- Meta-transactions - the ability to sign transactions that can be submitted by another party, for example, signing transactions offline or from another interface without the need for ETH as Gas.
- Delegated security - by allowing trusted callers to manage transactions, users can benefit from advanced security models, such as those involving multi-signature setups.
EIP-3074 is the next major step in the evolution of the Ethereum account model. It is a short-term remedy before the rise of ERC-4337, but its significance in improving the user experience (UX) is substantial.
EIP-7251
For validators holding large amounts of ETH, EIP-7251 is undoubtedly a proposal with higher value. It allows validators to receive additional staking rewards beyond the standard 32 ETH staking limit. Previously, any staked amount exceeding 32 ETH was idle. If validators wanted to stake additional ETH, they had to set up a new validator node and invest another 32 ETH. With EIP-7251, validators can use a single validator node and stake all their held ETH.
This improvement is expected to attract large institutions to run their own validator nodes and further participate in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Additionally, as part of the Pectra upgrade, this proposal may also improve the performance of the Ethereum network through the consolidation of validator nodes. For example, projects like Lido can reduce the number of validator nodes they operate and receive rewards on top of the 32 ETH staking limit.
EIP-7002
As part of the Pectra upgrade, EIP-7002 addresses some significant risk issues in validator node operations.
For example, if you want to earn the rewards for running a validator node but don't want to handle the complex operations, you can delegate this task to a validator node operator and give them your validator key (the key used for validating and proposing blocks). However, when you want to withdraw ETH, you must use the validator key to sign a "voluntary exit message" to complete the operation. If the operator deliberately obstructs this, refuses to sign the message, or the validator key is compromised, your ETH could be maliciously withheld or even extorted.
EIP-7002 provides a solution that allows stakers to withdraw ETH simply by retrieving the key, eliminating the risk of a malicious operator refusing to sign the exit message and reducing the possibility of ETH being seized if the validator key is compromised.
ERC-7683
Intents have been a hot topic in DeFi in recent years. ERC-7683 is a token standard aimed at directly addressing cross-chain interoperability issues and defining a shared structure for cross-chain intents. This standard is "like a ticket that anyone can create and any resolver can fulfill".
ERC-7683 was first proposed in 2024, co-drafted by Uniswap and Across Protocol. ERC-7683 aims to standardize Intents, bringing multiple benefits to the Ethereum ecosystem:
- Unifying Ethereum: Establishing a common standard for cross-L2 and cross-sidechain operations, supporting Ethereum's goal of being the leading decentralized application platform.
- Achieving interoperability: Standardizing order and settlement interfaces to enable seamless cross-chain execution.
- Eliminating fragmentation: Providing a coordinated framework for different systems, enabling smoother cross-chain operations.
- Enhancing user experience: Providing simplified, intuitive, and frictionless cross-chain interactions for users.
- Improving liquidity: Allowing DApps to access cross-chain shared fillment networks, providing deeper liquidity.
- Accelerating transactions: Reducing failure rates and speeding up transaction times by fostering competition among fillers.
- Driving innovation: Changing the cross-chain landscape by promoting collaboration and encouraging innovative solutions on Ethereum.
ERC-7841
ERC-7841 is a novel token standard that proposes a low-level message format and API for applications to send messages to or receive messages from other chains.
- ERC-7841 abstracts chain-specific logic out of applications, meaning the same application can be deployed on multiple chains without changing how it sends/receives messages.
- ERC-7841 is a modular foundation that only specifies the information needed to route messages between applications. This allows specific message types (e.g., bridging or intent message types) to be flexibly built on top of a single interface, rather than each message type.
- ERC-7841 is compatible with both synchronous message passing protocols (like CIRC) and asynchronous message passing protocols (like most existing protocols and CIRC).
While there are other EIPs with similar core objectives, the ongoing buzz around ERC-7841 indicates a strong momentum in the interoperability domain.
