Top 10 Promising Account Abstraction Projects in the Blockchain Space

Overview

Building a smart contract wallet by Account Abstraction technology (ERC-4337) are predicted to be the new direction for many projects, aiming to make Web3 increasingly secure, user-friendly, and accessible to a wider audience.

"A seamless experience with advanced features - ease of use is a vital bridge to bring the first billion users to Web3." - Chainlink

To foster the development of account abstraction, following its official announcement at the ETH Denver event, the Ethereum Foundation has established a $300,000 fund to nurture the AA ecosystem. On a different note, numerous Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), developers, and the media are beginning to promote this keyword to attract attention from the community.

Especially after the recent Arbitrum airdrop, a significant amount of capital has flowed into Starknet and zkSync Era, two platforms fully compatible with Account Abstraction. Could this be the first step towards user adoption that the Ethereum team had planned for in advance? Nonetheless, from the signs, we can see a substantial shift quietly unfolding.

Therefore, to stay ahead of the trend and reap rewards in the future, in this article, we will outline the top 10 most promising projects (both tokenless and tokenized) that could benefit from the AA development wave. What are these projects, and why are they promising? Let's explore!

Key takeaways:

• 5 pioneering Smart Contract Wallet projects (Account Abstraction) in the market.

• 3 projects with Account Abstraction support platforms.

• 2 EOA wallet projects with conversion potential following the trend.

Account Abstraction Integrated Wallet Projects

Argent X (No Token Yet)

Argent X is one of the pioneering projects in developing Account Abstraction (AA) on two platforms: Starknet and ZkSync 2.0. It has seamlessly integrated AA into its infrastructure. Argent X is the second offspring of Argent, an established wallet application with millions of users on Ethereum and ZkSync V1. Additionally, the Argent team has secured impressive funding of up to $52 million from renowned names such as Amonica Brand, Paradigm, Jump Trading, and more.

Notable features of Argent include Social Recovery, Multisig, Session Key, Trusted Addresses/Apps (enabling transactions only with predefined wallet addresses and smart contracts), Remote Wallet Locking (for cases of lost laptops or phones), and more. Furthermore, transaction fees when using Argent are remarkably low, costing only $1 on the Ethereum network.

Holdstation (Token Not Yet Released)

Website: https://holdstation.com/

Holdstation is a multi-chain Smart Contract Wallet that has currently integrated Account Abstraction features into its product on the zkSync Era network. Recently, they raised $2 million from K300 Ventures to enhance the Smart Contract Wallet, providing users with a comprehensive experience, from spot trading to leverage trading.

The project's standout feature is its focus on delivering a user-friendly Smart Contract Wallet for executing derivative transactions across a wide range of trading pairs, including cryptocurrencies, forex, and commodities. Additionally, the project has exciting plans to introduce its own token, accompanied by an airdrop for users in the near future.

Safe (Token Not Yet Released)

Safe, also known as Gnosis Safe, is one of the early-generation Account Abstraction (AA) wallet projects. It has already made its presence felt in various major ecosystems, including mainnets (Ethereum, BNB, Polygon, Gnosis, Aurora, Optimism, Arbitrum, Avalanche) and testnets (Goerli, Base testnet). The project has successfully raised $100 million in a strategic funding round, with participation from prominent investors such as Tiger Global, Parafi, Blockchain Capital, and more.

Safe Wallet has integrated numerous AA features, including multisig, Safe app permission, spending limits, and batch transactions (currently a unique feature among wallets). With over 1.5 million users and $39 billion in assets under custody, Safe is one of the most trustworthy "treasuries" in the crypto world.

Safe is actively collaborating with other projects to further develop its account abstraction capabilities, notable partnerships include:

• Collaboration with the emerging layer 2 solution BASE to promote AA wallets on their platform.

• Partnering with Gelato (backend), Stripe, and Web3Auth to introduce Safe{Core}, an AA stack module.

• Hosting a $50,000 hackathon for developers in March.

According to a prior proposal, the project plans to airdrop 50 million $SAFE tokens to 21,000 wallets. This airdrop has not occurred yet, and the token has not been in circulation. Nevertheless, it is an event worth closely monitoring.

Braavos (Token Not Yet Released)

Braavos is a wallet project operating on both Starknet and ZkSync 2.0. Established in 2022, Braavos has successfully raised $10 million in funding from investors such as Pantera Capital, Crypto.com, Maxiport, and Starkware.

Braavos boasts a notable feature known as "transaction explanations," which enhances user-friendliness by making transactions more understandable and accessible to users.

Ambire Wallet ($WALLET and $ADX)

Ambire Wallet is a newly introduced smart contract wallet that emerged in early 2022 and is the second product from the Ambire team, whose first product is AdEx, a decentralized advertising platform. Ambire Wallet provides support for a wide range of networks, both large and small, including Ethereum, BNB, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism, Gnosis, Andromeda, and more. Despite raising only $2.5 million from lesser-known organizations such as Ascensive Assets, MetaCartel Ventures, LAUNCHub Ventures, Ambire's product is quite polished.

Ambire Wallet has built several features around account abstraction, including:

• Fee payment with stablecoins.

• Multisig functionality.

• Batch transactions.

Furthermore, in my opinion, Ambire Wallet offers a user-friendly and easy-to-navigate interface, with numerous integrated auxiliary features such as multi-chain asset management, swapping, and Visa card top-ups.

Several other AA wallets are also being developed in this evolving landscape, which you can explore further, including Soul Wallet, 0xpass, Squads, Pillar Wallet, Panda Wallet, Blocto Wallet, and more.

NEAR Wallet ($NEAR)

With infrastructure that has integrated Account Abstraction (AA) from its early stages, Near Wallet, built on the Near Protocol, appears to fully leverage all AA features such as upgradability, flexible gas fees, and user-friendly wallet addresses (instead of lengthy character strings, users can assign memorable names to wallet addresses). Near Wallet is a subsidiary project of Layer 1 Near Protocol, which has successfully raised over $500 million.

Distinctive features of Near Wallet include the ability to change the seed phase and the capability to delegate fee payments to third parties. These features make Near Wallet stand out in the realm of AA wallets.

Biconomy ($BICO)

Biconomy is the third-party solution bridging support for various EVM chains, including Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, xDai Chain, Avalanche, and Moonriver. It optimizes user experiences through Account Abstraction (AA) features, allowing users to pay gas fees with any token and providing recovery options. Biconomy has raised $10.5 million in funding from renowned investors such as Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventures, Mechanism Capital, and others.

Although it rose to prominence in 2021 and then faded from the spotlight, Biconomy is currently regaining attention by partnering with Polygon to implement AA on Polygon's ZkEVM and actively promoting its AA SDK.

Uniswap ($UNI)

During the ETH Denver event, Uniswap also introduced its wallet. However, Uniswap's wallet has received somewhat mixed feedback.

Yet, given its role as a leading DEX in the crypto ecosystem, both in terms of technology and trading volume, the prospect of promoting Account Abstraction (AA) through DEX trading volume is entirely plausible. For instance, conducting trades on Uniswap using AA-supporting wallets, such as Ambire Wallet, to receive the $WALLET/$ADX airdrop, is a feasible scenario.

Another noteworthy DEX is 1inch, which not only has its token but also its own wallet.

Gelato ($GEL)

Similar to Biconomy, Gelato is a solution for developing smart contracts and building infrastructure on various EVM platforms. The project has raised funds twice, totaling around $22 million, from investors such as IOSG Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Dragonfly Capital, Parafi, among others. Additionally, Gelato has received support from AAVE with the purpose of creating asset liquidation infrastructure.

Gelato currently provides two services:

• Automate: This service automates the execution of smart contracts in a reliable, developer-friendly, and decentralized environment while integrating off-chain data.

• Relay: Gelato's Relay service helps users connect to a powerful and reliable fee-free trading system.

Gelato's infrastructure aims to provide efficient and automated solutions for decentralized applications and DeFi platforms.

Promising EOA Wallet Conversion Projects

In addition to AA wallets, we should also pay attention to EOA wallets that already have tokens. These projects are actively exploring the AA market by updating to the ERC-4337 standard.

SafePal ($SFP)

Despite starting with relatively modest funding of $8.5 million, SafePal has risen to become the second-largest EOA wallet in the market. SafePal places a strong emphasis on security and even has its own hardware wallet.

In the context of the AA trend, SafePal has not experienced significant changes yet. However, with its core values of safety, security, and user-friendliness, SafePal is likely to adapt and leverage the tremendous advantages of AA.

Additionally, we should also keep an eye on smaller-cap EOA wallets that are actively innovating, such as Mathwallet ($MATH), Metamask, Zerion, and others.

Trust Wallet ($TWT)

Trust Wallet is a project that ranks second in popularity after Metamask, especially since it was acquired by Binance in 2018 (the exact amount was not disclosed). Recently, Trust Wallet has been frequently mentioned by CZ regarding self-custody of assets, particularly in the wake of FTX exchange's bankruptcy.

Additionally, CZ and Vitalik have a close relationship and have been shaping the cryptocurrency market for many years. With Ethereum implementing account abstraction, Trust Wallet, under CZ's ownership, has great potential. With its top-ranking market capitalization in the wallet sector, Trust Wallet could be at the forefront of leading this trend, both in AA and EOA wallets.

Conclusion

In this article, we have summarized the top 10 most promising projects that could develop in the long-term trend of account abstraction. Each project has its own advantages and disadvantages, as well as depending on the capabilities of the development team. As investors, we need to truly experience the products to make our own decisions (this is also a great opportunity to "farm" airdrops from wallets that do not yet have tokens!).

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