Skip to main content
Important: We do not provide financial advice or custody funds. All transactions occur on third-party platforms.
CryptoBipto
Log in

EIP-7702 and the Future

EIP-7702 lets EOAs temporarily delegate to smart-contract code, activated in the Pectra hardfork. Plus native AA on zkSync Era and StarkNet, and where wallet engineering is heading next.

25 min · expert · part of Account Abstraction & Wallet Engineering

The Last Mile of Account Abstraction

By 2024, ERC-4337 had been live for a year, modular smart accounts had matured, and passkey UX was production-ready. The remaining problem was migration: how do hundreds of millions of existing EOA holders gain access to smart-account features without having to create a new account, move all their funds, update every dapp approval, and re-bridge every position? The answer Vitalik Buterin proposed in May 2024 was EIP-7702: "set EOA code." EIP-7702 lets an existing EOA temporarily attach smart-contract code to itself. From the chain's perspective, the EOA is still an EOA — same address, same nonce, same private key controls it — but during transactions where it has delegated, the EOA executes code from a designated contract as if it were a smart account. The delegation is signed by the EOA's private key and stored in a special account-code field. It can be revoked, replaced, or extended at any time, without the user ever moving funds or changing addresses. This was a major reversal from EIP-3074 (a 2020-2023 proposal that EIP-7702 replaced). EIP-3074 introduced new opcodes (AUTH and AUTHCALL) that let an EOA delegate signing authority to a contract — but it was rejected by parts of the community over concerns about how it interacted with future AA designs, and was eventually withdrawn in favor of 7702. EIP-7702 was activated in the Pectra hardfork on Ethereum mainnet in 2025 (around mid-2025), making it the largest single AA-related change to Ethereum's account model since launch. This lesson covers what EIP-7702 actually does, how it changes wallet UX, the chains that did not need it because they had native AA from day one (zkSync Era, StarkNet), and where the field is going next.

Also in this lesson

  • How EIP-7702 Works
  • Pectra Hardfork and Activation
  • Native AA on zkSync Era and StarkNet
  • Where Wallet Engineering Goes Next
  • Closing the Module

Key terms

EIP-7702 (set EOA code)
A 2024 Ethereum proposal by Vitalik Buterin that lets an existing EOA temporarily attach smart-contract code to itself via a signed authorization (transaction type 0x04), gaining smart-account features without changing address or moving funds. Activated as part of the Pectra hardfork in 2025.
EIP-3074
An earlier 2020-2023 proposal (AUTH and AUTHCALL opcodes) that would have let EOAs delegate signing authority to contracts. Rejected by parts of the community over concerns about long-term AA design alignment and ultimately replaced by EIP-7702.
Delegation designator
The 24-byte marker (0xef0100 || address) stored in a 7702-delegated EOA code field, identifying the contract whose code the EOA will execute. The 0xef prefix is reserved by EIP-3541 so the format is unambiguous.
Pectra hardfork
Ethereum mid-2025 mainnet upgrade combining Prague execution layer and Electra consensus layer. Included EIP-7702 (EOA code), EIP-7251 (MaxEB validator balance to 2048 ETH), EIP-7691 (more blobs), EIP-2537 (BLS12-381 precompile), and others.
Native account abstraction
Account abstraction built directly into the protocol from day one, rather than retrofitted via an off-chain mempool. zkSync Era (launched March 2023) and StarkNet (launched 2022) both have native AA; every account is a smart contract by default.
zkSync Era
A zk-rollup that launched in March 2023 with native account abstraction at the protocol level. Every account is a smart contract; transactions invoke the accounts validateTransaction function. Paymasters, multi-sig, and passkeys all work without ERC-4337 alt-mempool infrastructure.
StarkNet
A general-purpose zk-rollup written in Cairo, launched 2022 with no EOAs. Every account is a Cairo smart contract. Wallets like Argent X and Braavos implement modular accounts natively; Braavos pioneered passkey-based StarkNet accounts in 2023.
EIP-5792 (wallet send calls)
A wallet-RPC standard adding wallet_sendCalls and related methods for batched-and-sponsored transaction requests. Works uniformly across pure EOAs, 7702-delegated EOAs, and pure smart accounts, so dapps need not care which AA model the user is on.
Solana fee payer
Solana native model where one account signs a transaction and a different account (the fee payer) pays the gas. Gives Solana sponsored-transaction UX similar to a paymaster without needing a dedicated paymaster contract.
Squads
The dominant multi-sig wallet on Solana, implementing multi-sig at the program layer (since Solana does not have on-chain account-level signature customization the way Ethereum smart accounts do). Secures multi-billion-dollar treasuries on Solana.

Continue this lesson — 5 more sections in the CryptoBipto app.

Open lesson

Educational only — not financial advice.