ZkSync v2, one of the rollups currently under development, has added account abstraction to its protocol. This implementation replaces the private keys of the wallets with the control of a smart contract.
According to Explain the development team, this implementation, which is now activated on your testnet, “It will improve the user experience” thanks to the versatility it offers account abstraction.
To understand what the abstraction of accounts is about, it is necessary to know that, in Ethereum, there are two types of accounts or wallets: the first one, and the most commonly used, are the EOAs (external ownership account) that depend on a private key. All funds will be protected by it.
Although it is the most widespread security method in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, it limits the user experience, since complex systems cannot be developed, such as the recovery of funds. Loss of this private key leads to loss of funds.
On the other hand, you have smart contract accounts. Here, the holding of a wallet address is controlled by a smart contract. This makes it easier to develop different implementations, such as recovery systems. There are Ethereum layer 1 wallets that already incorporate this technology, for example, Argent.
Now, in the zkSync 2.0 rollup the account abstraction replaces the use of EOAs with the exclusive use of smart contract accounts. All wallet addresses created in this network will be controlled by a smart contractwith a domain in the hands of the user.
Other benefits of account abstraction
In addition to the use of smart contract accounts, account abstraction offers more efficient signature algorithms, which can translate into commission savings. It also improves communication between the rollup network (Layer 2) and the main Ethereum network (Layer 1). They estimate that, with this implementation, it is possible to trade native ETH in the rollup, without the need to use wrapped tokens, such as WETH (wrapped ETH) as used by other networks.
Originally, the account abstraction was postulated in EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) 4337, made by Vitalik Buterin himself, co-creator of Ethereum.
These updates are some of the most requested among developers, and we’re excited to see what unique apps they unlock. Since the purpose of the testnet is to harden our systems, bugs and issues can be expected.
Matter Labs, developer of zkSync 2.0.
As mentioned, this rollup is still in the preparation phase. As reported by CriptoNoticias, the developers promise that zkSync 2.0 will process up to 20,000 transactions per second (TPS), as opposed to the 15 TPS currently processed by the Ethereum mainnet. Also, version 2.0 of zkSync promises to include support for the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) meaning that Ethereum decentralized applications (dApps) can run on this network.