An Intro to Smart Wallets: Simplifying Crypto for Everyday Users

Simplicity is elusive in crypto. For many people, managing digital assets can seem needlessly intimidating, with users juggling multiple accounts while keeping track of gas fees. But there’s a better way — an emerging model for crypto wallets that can automate actions, combining protection and convenience into a seamless experience. No more complex keys to memorize or frustrating recovery processes to deal with.

“Smart wallets” are made possible by ERC-4337, a new standard for account abstraction. They differ from traditional wallets that are associated with Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs), which depend on a single private key for access and signing transactions. Smart wallets operate under programmable logic with greater flexibility, and can be seamlessly upgraded with new features over time. They support gas-free creation and web2 authentication (e.g., using your Google account for access), and work with popular standard wallet options like MetaMask.

A smart wallet is basically a non-custodial wallet that uses smart contracts to provide a more refined and user-friendly way to approach digital assets. With the support of major players like Coinbase, smart wallets are expected to become a major driver in the increasing public adoption of DeFi, dapps, and blockchain-based services.

Web3 for Everyone

By abstracting away the complexity associated with traditional wallets, smart wallets make new capabilities possible. They can execute actions according to preset rules and conditions, supporting automation and customization. They also make it unnecessary to manage seed phrases, which can be confusing and prone to user error.

Key benefits include:

1. Advanced Security Features

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Requires an additional form of identification (like a phone number or fingerprint) to authenticate.
Multi-Signature (Multisig) Support: Requires approvals from multiple devices or users to authorize transactions.
Social Recovery: Restores access by designating trusted accounts, eliminating the need to store sensitive seed phrases.

2. Simplified Interactions

Transaction Batching and Multicall: Bundles multiple actions into a single step, saving time and reducing complexity.
Automation: Automates tasks like recurring payments, making routine transactions easier to manage.
Access Control: Easily toggles access for dapps on or off without altering the primary account.

3. Customizable Features

Allowlists: Control which accounts can interact with the wallet.
Alternative Signature Schemes: Support biometric authentication or advanced cryptographic methods like BLS or threshold signatures as flexible security options.
Custom Validation: Set rules such as spending limits and time-based restrictions to ensure only authorized interactions.

4. Gasless Transactions

Smart wallets allow a third-party “paymaster” account to cover transaction fees.
Automatically pay for gas using any ERC-20 token or stablecoin, such as USDC, without needing to hold the network’s native token.
Simplifies fee payments and interactions with decentralized applications and services.

Ava Protocol’s Smart Wallet

Ava Protocol has developed a smart wallet that balances user autonomy with the ability to perform intent-based automated tasks, leveraging ERC-4337 and ERC-6900's modularity to integrate custom logic.

Each user’s EOA is linked to one or more unique smart wallet addresses, eliminating the need to manage multiple addresses. The design ensures that smart wallets are always connected to their owner’s main account, streamlining account management and interactions.

Ava Protocol's wallet introduces a controller that works in tandem with the EOA, so that users don't need to directly manage their private keys. The controller has the ability to execute future actions based on the user’s preferences without direct input. This dual-control structure allows the protocol to execute autonomous transactions on the user’s behalf without requiring direct access to their private key, streamlining wallet automation while maintaining security.

The Ava Protocol smart wallet simplifies automated transactions while keeping the user’s assets secure. The wallet automatically generates and packs multiple transactions into a User Operation, as defined by ERC-6900, combining the steps into a single process.

For example, if a user is swapping tokens on a platform like Uniswap, they would normally approve the exchange to access their tokens and then confirm the actual swap in separate steps, and then maybe move the swapped tokens back to their main account. With Ava Protocol’s smart wallet, the User Operation automatically handles all of these tasks — from approving the access to completing the swap and transferring the tokens to the user’s account — saving time, effort, and gas fees.

The end product is a wallet that builds on the functions and control of traditional wallets with advanced features and capabilities — ultimately making crypto more accessible and intuitive for everyday users.
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