Glossary · E
ERC-4337
The Ethereum standard that enables account abstraction without changing the consensus layer. Users submit UserOperations to a separate mempool; bundlers package them into transactions, and optional paymasters can sponsor gas. ERC-4337 underpins many 2025–2026 smart-wallet products that offer recovery, batching, and gas abstraction while remaining non-custodial. Also searched as: EIP-4337, account abstraction standard.
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How ERC-4337 works in practice
ERC-4337 delivers account abstraction without changing Ethereum's protocol. It routes user operations through a separate mempool and bundlers, which is why it works on any EVM chain today rather than requiring a hard fork.
Worked example
A user signs a user operation rather than a transaction. A bundler packages several together and submits them, and a paymaster can cover the gas — enabling wallets with no seed phrase and no starting balance.
Figures are illustrative and chosen to be checkable, not live market data.
The mistake that costs people money
It introduces new infrastructure — bundlers, paymasters, entry point contracts — and each is a dependency. Paymasters in particular are a trusted third party in the flow.
ERC-4337: common questions
- What is ERC-4337?
- The Ethereum standard that enables account abstraction without changing the consensus layer. Users submit UserOperations to a separate mempool; bundlers package them into transactions, and optional paymasters can sponsor gas. ERC-4337 underpins many 2025–2026 smart-wallet products that offer recovery, batching, and gas abstraction while remaining non-custodial. Also searched as: EIP-4337, account abstraction standard.
- How does ERC-4337 work in practice?
- ERC-4337 delivers account abstraction without changing Ethereum's protocol. It routes user operations through a separate mempool and bundlers, which is why it works on any EVM chain today rather than requiring a hard fork.
- Can you give an example of ERC-4337?
- A user signs a user operation rather than a transaction. A bundler packages several together and submits them, and a paymaster can cover the gas — enabling wallets with no seed phrase and no starting balance.
- What do people get wrong about ERC-4337?
- It introduces new infrastructure — bundlers, paymasters, entry point contracts — and each is a dependency. Paymasters in particular are a trusted third party in the flow.