Ethereum users can now bid farewell to the fear of losing their seed phrases, thanks to the introduction of a new “social recovery” feature as part of the planned Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 3074 upgrade during the Pectra hard fork.
EIP-3074 was officially included in the Pectra hard fork by Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko, as confirmed in an April 11 X post. This upgrade aims to enhance ordinary Ethereum wallets by introducing several new smart contract capabilities, including asset recovery, as explained by Ethereum Foundation researcher “Domothy” in a March 25 blog post.
To utilize the social recovery tool, users need to transfer ownership of their assets to an invoker contract through a digital signature. This contract will then handle future transactions and function calls on behalf of the user. In case the user loses or forgets their seed phrase, they can retrieve their assets using the message within the digital signature.
The implementation of the “AUTH” and “AUTHCALL” opcodes will make this feature possible, according to cryptocurrency commentator Cygaar in an April 11 X post. The AUTH opcode verifies if the user’s signature and intended action were properly signed, while the AUTHCALL opcode executes the transaction by calling the target contract, with the user assigned as the caller instead of the invoker contract.
However, Domothy expressed concerns that funds could be drained if users delegate their assets to a malicious invoker contract. Nevertheless, he expects a few formally verified and fully audited invoker contracts to become available after the Pectra upgrade.
Over the years, billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency have been lost due to users forgetting or misplacing their private keys.
One notable advantage of EIP-3074 is that users will not require any Ether (ETH) in their wallets to send transactions, as the entity behind the invoker contract can cover the costs upfront. This development could greatly contribute to mass retail adoption, as highlighted by Cygaar.
Additionally, EIP-3074 allows for multiple actions to be grouped into a single transaction. “With 3074, these two actions can be batched into a single tx,” added Cygaar.
The Pectra hard fork is expected to take place in late 2024 or early 2025.
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