foreword
"This article aims to use the most popular language to help new users understand and try to use Web3 wallets, and join the new wave as soon as possible."
Currently, there are nearly 5 billion Web2 users worldwide, while Web3 users are only 400 million. Web3 is still a niche industry. As an entry-level application, the popularity of Web3 wallets will help Web3 achieve large-scale applications.
On August 2, Ouyi OKX announced that it was the first to launch the AA smart contract wallet, which may change the blockchain industry forever and lower the threshold for Internet users to enter Web3.
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has repeatedly mentioned that smart contract wallets are the future of Web3 wallets. In addition, Vitalik Buterin emphasized in the summary of the EthCC conference speech that the account abstraction (AA) in the future will make encrypted wallets as simple as email. In the roadmap of Ethereum 2.0, the official puts account abstraction (AA) at the same directory level as merging and sharding, which shows the important position of account abstraction in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Getting to Know Web3 Wallets
Putting aside the concept of Web3 for now, in fact, the Web3 wallet has no difference in attributes from WeChat and Alipay, and it is a payment tool. With this basic reference, it is easy to understand the Web3 wallet. Web3 Wallet is mainly used to receive, store, manage and transfer digital assets, and explore DApp, etc.
If various concepts such as Web3 decentralization are added back, compared with traditional payment tools, the biggest change of Web3 wallet is that it allows users to master their own private keys and fully control assets, thereby eliminating the need for third-party payment such as banks and financial institutions. Reliance on intermediaries. That is to say, even if there is a black swan event such as Silicon Valley Bank or the end of the world, your assets are still in the Web3 wallet, controlled by the private key.
A Web3 wallet corresponds to a unique private key and cannot be modified. The private key is composed of a 64-bit hexadecimal string composed of letters and numbers. For the convenience of users to remember and record, it is simplified into a seed phrase consisting of 12 words. So the private key is very important, and whoever controls the private key controls the assets. Three types of wallets are derived around the control of private keys, including custodial wallets, hybrid custodian wallets, and non-custodial wallets, that is, private keys are held by users themselves, users and custodians respectively. The current mainstream Metamask and OKX Web3 wallets are non-custodial wallets (or self-custodial wallets).
Although non-custodial wallets return asset control rights to users, they face many pain points such as difficulty in storing seed phrase, limited GAS payment methods, and complicated operating procedures, which are great obstacles for new users. In order to solve these problems, wallets represented by the OKX Web3 wallet continue to explore new technologies and methods, accelerate product update iterations, and aim to create a leading user-friendly and secure digital wallet. The launch of the Ouyi AA smart contract wallet, while ensuring the security of assets, can have more customization and expansion functions such as batch transactions, payment of Gas, and private key recovery. It not only improves security by getting seed phrase/private keys, but also simplifies the process of on-chain interaction, and can automatically realize Gas subsidies, which reduces the threshold for users to use Web3 wallets, or will open the "iPhone moment" of Web3 wallets, Help realize the large-scale application of Web3 and open up a huge space for imagination.
Although non-custodial wallets return asset control rights to users, they face many pain points such as difficulty in storing seed phrase, limited GAS payment methods, and complicated operating procedures, which are great obstacles for new users. In order to solve these problems, wallets represented by the OKX Web3 wallet continue to explore new technologies and methods, accelerate product update iterations, and aim to create a leading user-friendly and secure digital wallet. The launch of the Ouyi AA smart contract wallet, while ensuring the security of assets, can have more customization and expansion functions such as batch transactions, payment of Gas, and private key recovery. It not only improves security by getting seed phrase/private keys, but also simplifies the process of on-chain interaction, and can automatically realize Gas subsidies, which reduces the threshold for users to use Web3 wallets, or will open the "iPhone moment" of Web3 wallets, Help realize the large-scale application of Web3 and open up a huge space for imagination.
opportunity
Why does Ouyi OKX launch the AA smart contract wallet?
The "AA" in the AA smart contract wallet is the abbreviation of Account Abstract in English, so the AA smart contract wallet is also called smart account or account abstraction.
To understand what account abstraction is, it can be divided into two parts: "account" and "abstraction". First, understand some background knowledge about Ethereum accounts.
Now almost everyone has an account on a financial platform. The Ethereum account is the same as ordinary financial accounts such as bank cards, Alipay, and WeChat, and the account balance can be seen intuitively. So what is so special about Ethereum accounts?
Unlike the Bitcoin network, Ethereum accounts not only support simple token transactions, but also support complex smart contracts. Therefore, there are two types of accounts in Ethereum, namely Externally Owned Accounts (EOA for short) and Contracts Accounts (CA for short). At present, all wallets are built based on these two account types. Here we use a picture to directly compare the differences between the two.
How does an Ethereum account work? For example, Xiao Ming created EOA account A, and Xiao Li created EOA account B. Now Xiao Ming wants to buy an apple with 1 ETH from Xiao Li, so can he directly transfer money from account A to account B? No, CA account C must be used.
Why? Because after Xiao Ming transferred money to Xiao Li, what should Xiao Li do? Or what should Xiao Ming do if Xiao Li doesn't pay after Xiao Li delivers the goods to Xiao Ming? A smart contract can be deployed to generate CA account C. At this time, account A and account B both transfer 2 ETH to account C. After Xiaoli delivers the goods, account C is triggered, and account C transfers 1 ETH to account A, and the account C transfers 1 ETH to account A. B transfers 2 ETH.
The above is the basic explanation of the Ethereum account, and then we will talk about "abstraction". In order to facilitate everyone's understanding of account abstraction, let's give an example. For example, in summer, we don't need to understand how the air conditioner works internally, and control it through remote control. The temperature and wind speed of the air conditioner are enough, and the remote control is equivalent to "abstracting" the internal operation of the air conditioner to the surface. With this basic concept, it is easier to understand the "abstract" of the account.
At present, EOA carries the wallet, and CA carries the logic of the smart contract. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Different from traditional bank accounts, for EOA accounts, since its "ownership" and "signature rights" are integrated and controlled by a unique private key, various problems arise. Why? "Ownership" is the person who owns the account, and "signature right" is the person who can control the account. For example, for traditional bank users, even if the password "signature right" is stolen by a thief or lost, others cannot transfer it from the bank "Ownership" of your assets, but for the Ethereum EOA account, as long as you hold the private key, you can fully control the assets in the account. Therefore, in the current EOA account, the private key is difficult to save, the signature authority is high, and loss means losing all assets. Imagine the scenario where the money is still in the wallet, but the private key is lost and the money can no longer be retrieved. It is estimated that no one can hold it. In addition, it does not have programmability, and needs to have ETH as the Gas fee to operate and many other pain points.
There are also many problems for the CA account. Although the logic can be customized to realize the possibility of more functions, the transaction cannot be initiated actively. It must be called by the EOA account, and because it is deployed on the chain, additional GAS waits.
It is not difficult to see that these two types of accounts are currently unable to solve the problem of complex wallet experience, and the threshold is safe and unsafe. Therefore, the AA smart account is to "abstract" the complex operating logic of CA and EOA, and simplify the two Ethereum account types into one. This account type will be able to support cryptocurrency transactions and smart contracts at the same time, that is, those with CA In addition to programmability, it can also get rid of the dependence on EOA's initiative to initiate transactions, separate "ownership" and "signature rights", and combine the advantages of the two to achieve multiple signatures, batch transactions, payment of Gas, social recovery, etc. Various new ways to play, no longer need to distinguish account types.
That is, the wallet is the contract, so that the AA smart contract wallet can expand diversified functions.
The development of account abstraction is inseparable from the Ethereum environment. It was proposed as early as the beginning of Ethereum’s launch, but most of the solutions were shelved because they were immature or difficult to implement. From the earliest EIP-101 to EIP- 3074 has iterated several versions, and the basis for its real realization is the proposal of ERC-4337. ERC-4337 aims to realize the flexibility and upgradeability of the wallet without modifying the underlying native protocol, including multi-signature and social recovery. and other functions, as well as more efficient and simplified signature algorithms, etc.
Figure: ERC-4337 officially forwarded and liked the OKX AA smart contract wallet
Proposal EIP is the improvement proposal of Ethereum. It is a way to publicly solicit and discuss measures to improve Ethereum. It can enable the community to work closely together to make Ethereum more efficient. The content of any update of Ethereum comes from EIP. Anyone can create an EIP, but it needs to be reviewed, including preliminary discussion, feedback and revision. ERC is an official standard, such as the well-known ERC20, ERC721, ERC1155, etc. Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, has said that the implementation of the ERC-4337 proposal "will open the door for creativity in the design of wallets," which will reshape the way Ethereum wallets are designed. If successfully realized, it could be the key to realizing the dream of "account abstraction" and "social recovery".
It is worth mentioning that since Layer 2 public chains such as StarkNet and ZkSync Era already support abstract accounts at the bottom of the chain, they can support the construction of abstract accounts without the implementation of the 4337 standard, such as Argent and Braavos wallets.
In short, the excellent performance of account abstraction in many aspects such as signature algorithm, implementation functions, and user experience has become a "must" for large-scale applications of Web3 wallets, and it is worth everyone's expectations. Based on the above background, Ouyi OKX took the lead in developing and launching the AA smart contract wallet. You must know that the AA smart contract wallet involves a large number of smart contracts, and the pressure test on the contract side is demanding and difficult. There is no unified security standard Under the premise, the efforts behind Ouyi OKX can be imagined, but we will not start here.
Example
After talking about the principle and background of the large section, the use case of the Ouyi AA smart contract wallet will be used next to help users understand where its innovation lies and what new experiences it has achieved.
Stable currency pays Gas. When using an ordinary Web3 wallet to trade, you need to use the mainnet Token (ETH) as the Gas fee. When the wallet does not have the Token network Token (ETH), you will not be able to trade. The Ouyi AA smart contract wallet supports the use of the mainnet Token ( In addition to ETH), it now supports the stable currency USDT/USDC to pay Gas, and will support other ERC20 tokens to pay Gas in the future, which removes the dependence of Gas on the main chain Token, which is more friendly and convenient.
Multiple chains are supported. Currently, Ouyi has supported users to create AA smart contract wallets on the seven mainstream public chains of Ethereum, OKTC, Arbitrum, Polygon, Optimism, BNB Chain, and Avalanche.
DEX one-click exchange. The Ouyi AA smart contract wallet will combine the interaction of multiple steps required by the original ordinary account into one-click completion. The operation is in place in one step, and it can be exchanged on the decentralized exchange (DEX) with one click.
DeFi one-click mining. Similar to Ouyi OKX DEX one-click exchange, the AA smart contract account can combine some investment operations, allowing users to perform multiple investment and position adjustment operations with one click, which greatly improves efficiency.
In addition to the first-batch highlights above, the Ouyi AA Smart Contract Wallet also launched a Gas subsidy activity. Users can enjoy a non-inductive Gas reduction once a day when transferring or trading, with a maximum reduction of 5U. In the future, the Ouyi AA smart contract wallet will soon support social recovery, provide wallet applet components, and realize high-level on-chain wealth management strategy functions such as payment of Gas by relatives and friends, multi-signature function chain copying, and combinable operations.
Just imagine, if the social recovery function is launched, we will bid farewell to the era of "losing the seed phrase is equal to losing the account". Users no longer need to write down 12 words or private keys on paper. Even if the seed phrase is lost, the assets are still safe Yes, and you can also re-access the account through multi-factor authentication, so you can enjoy a Web2-like silky experience. If the automatic running function is launched, the transaction will run automatically after meeting the conditions set by the user, which is similar to Alipay’s password-free payment. The signature will be automatically authorized, which greatly improves the user experience.
However, the account abstraction wallet is not "perfect", and there are still many aspects that need to be improved. For example, because all the logic of the account abstraction wallet is run on the chain, the cost of Gas is increased, due to the dependence on smart contracts, it is incompatible with other chains when deployed on the chain, and contract loopholes increase, etc.
create
How to create Ouyi AA smart contract wallet?
Users can add corresponding AA smart contract accounts to existing accounts in different wallet types (seed phrase wallet, private key wallet, private key wallet, hardware wallet) provided by OKX Web3 wallet. Each AA smart contract account is generated by a common account, which is used to control the behavior on the chain and the recovery of the account.
For new users who are using the wallet for the first time, OKX Web3 Wallet provides two ways to create a wallet: no private key wallet and seed phrase. For users who already have a wallet, the user can import the wallet by restoring the wallet without a private key, restoring from the cloud (iCloud, Google Drive, Huawei Cloud), seed phrase and private key.
After creating or importing the wallet, click ▼ > Add Account > Smart Contract Account on the wallet homepage to successfully create an AA smart contract account.
In the OKX Web3 wallet, each wallet without private key or private key wallet can only create one AA smart contract account, and each account under the seed phrase wallet can create a corresponding AA smart contract account, such as wallet A - account 01, corresponding to Wallet A - Smart 01.
future
Things in the past are cognition, but things in the future are trends. It is very important for enterprises to perceive and grasp future trends.
Although the current EIP-4337 solution is not mature, and the account abstraction wallet developed based on it is not easy , the ultimate goal of Ethereum is to remove EOA accounts from the Ethereum network, and AA smart accounts are undoubtedly the future choice. Developers bring a high degree of freedom, help users lower the threshold for participation, and bring more ways to play to the Web3 wallet, opening up a huge space for imagination.
At present, only Ouyi OKX, a very small number of technology companies with previous encryption wallet technology accumulation, perceives and grasps the trend in advance, begins to lead the development of AA smart contract wallet, and constantly explores and improves the value and experience of users' daily use.
In recent years, Ouyi OKX, the world's second largest crypto exchage, is not in a hurry to reach the top, but returns to "first principles", rethinks the original intention of the company and the path it will take in the future, and timely and accurately grasps the user's While doing a good job in centralized business, we began to explore decentralized business and develop Web3 wallet.
Just like the greatness of the iPhone is not to create a smartphone, but to make smartphones a popular product. As a user who uses products frequently every day, Ouyi OKX began to think about Web3 wallet products like a "novice" user, and continuously lowered the threshold for its use. As Jobs said, "Simple is more difficult than complex. You have to pay a lot of hard work to make it simple." The Ouyi OKX AA smart contract wallet is "simplified" and pursues the ultimate user-friendly experience. Although it is impossible to convert existing EOA users to AA smart contract wallet users immediately, it brings the possibility of large-scale application of Web3 wallets.
According to a survey in 2022, as many as 1.7 billion people in the world do not have bank accounts and are excluded from the modern financial system. The Web3 tools built by platforms such as Ouyi OKX can allow these people to enjoy non-accessible and equal financial services , and bring deeper mobility and more users to Web3.
Sure enough, "the size of the pattern is the size of the world."
