Why the Modular Stack Redefines What AA Can Be

Monolithic bundlers like ERC-4337's EntryPoint are a single point of failure and performance constraint. They handle everything from simulation to inclusion, creating a centralized relay market vulnerable to censorship and MEV.

• Decouples Execution: Separates user operation simulation from block building.
• Enables Competition: Specialized bundlers (e.g., Pimlico, Stackup, Alchemy) compete on speed and reliability.
• Reduces Latency: Parallel processing cuts user operation confirmation to ~500ms.

Stuck gas fees are a UX dead end. A modular paymaster layer transforms gas sponsorship into a programmable business logic layer, decoupled from the core protocol.

• Unlocks New Models: Enables session keys for gaming, subscription services, and ERC-20 gas payments.
• Improves Capital Efficiency: Sponsors can implement just-in-time funding via account factories like Safe{Core} AA Kit.
• Creates Markets: Entities like Biconomy and ZeroDev monetize gas abstraction, driving adoption.

Hardware-bound EOA keys are a security liability. Modular AA separates signature validation logic from the core VM, enabling native support for passkeys, multi-party computation (MPC), and social recovery.

• Eliminates Seed Phrases: Users sign with WebAuthn (passkeys) or zkLogin schemes.
• Enables Granular Security: Define policies per session or asset via Safe{Wallet} modules.
• Future-Proofs Crypto: Integrates emerging standards like ERC-7212 (zk verification precompile) seamlessly.

An AA wallet locked to one chain is a dead end. A modular account's state and logic must be portable across EVM L2s, non-EVM L1s, and even LayerZero-connected appchains.

• Unified Identity: A Safe{Core} Account can have a consistent address and permissions on Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync.
• Cross-Chain UserOps: Bundlers coordinate with CCIP or Axelar to execute actions across domains atomically.
• Solves Liquidity Fragmentation: Users interact with pooled liquidity on UniswapX or CowSwap natively from any chain.

Storing full account state and transaction calldata on-chain is prohibitively expensive at scale. Modular AA leverages alternative DA layers to slash costs by >90%.

• Leverages Rollups: Stores non-critical state on Celestia or EigenDA.
• Enables Mass Adoption: Reduces the cost of a social recovery operation from $10+ on Ethereum L1 to <$0.01.
• Future-Proofs Scaling: Prepares for EIP-4844 blobs and validiums, where DA is a commodity.

Expecting users to manually sign transactions for every dApp is absurd. The endgame is intent-based systems where users declare goals ("swap X for Y at best rate") and a solver network, like UniswapX or CowSwap, fulfills them.

• Abstracts Complexity: User signs a high-level intent, not low-level calldata.
• Optimizes Execution: Solvers compete to provide best price via MEV capture, refunding users.
• Native to Modular AA: An AA wallet's signature abstraction and paymaster are perfect intent vehicles. Across Protocol already demonstrates this model.

Uses a modular stack (SVM execution, Ethereum settlement, Celestia DA) to make AA a foundational primitive. This enables custom fee markets and native programmability for account logic at the chain level.\n- Key Benefit: Developers can build AA-powered dApps without L1 gas token dependencies.\n- Key Benefit: Enables parallel execution of user operations, scaling beyond Ethereum's constraints.

Implements AA natively in its UTXO-based VM, treating accounts as programmable predicates. Its modular design separates execution from settlement.\n- Key Benefit: State minimization allows for fraud proofs that only verify the specific account state change, not the entire chain.\n- Key Benefit: Native batch processing of user operations reduces on-chain footprint, cutting costs for paymasters and bundlers.

Projects building with Avail for data availability or Polygon CDK can deploy AA-enabled rollups where security and scalability are independent.\n- Key Benefit: Rollup sequencers can implement trust-minimized bundling by posting proofs and data to a dedicated DA layer.\n- Key Benefit: Enables cross-chain AA sessions where a user's intent, validated on one chain, can be settled on another via shared DA.

Starknet's native account abstraction and its Madara sequencer framework demonstrate how a modular prover (STARKs) changes the game.\n- Key Benefit: Single proof can verify a batch of heterogeneous user operations (transfers, swaps, games), amortizing cost.\n- Key Benefit: The Kakarot zkEVM shows how AA logic can be implemented as a smart contract within a proving system, making it portable across L2s.

Arbitrum Stylus allows AA smart accounts to be written in Rust/Go, compiled to WASM, and run at near-native speed.\n- Key Benefit: Complex signature schemes (e.g., BLS, social recovery logic) become economically viable, moving beyond simple ECDSA.\n- Key Benefit: Developers can build high-frequency trading accounts or autonomous agent wallets where computational overhead was previously prohibitive.

The Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol and chains like Neutron are pioneering AA where the account is the cross-chain primitive.\n- Key Benefit: A single smart account can hold assets and execute across multiple app-chains via IBC, with unified security from a mesh of interchain security providers.\n- Key Benefit: Enables sovereign chain accounts where governance and treasury management are abstracted across an ecosystem.

Bundling AA logic into the execution layer limits innovation and creates vendor lock-in. It forces a trade-off between security, cost, and functionality.

• Vendor Lock-in: You're stuck with the L2's native AA implementation.
• Inflexible Cost Structure: Paying for expensive L1 calldata for simple user ops.
• Slow Innovation: Upgrades are tied to the L2's hard fork schedule.

Decouple user intent expression from execution. Let users declare what they want, not how to do it, and let a specialized sequencer network (like Espresso, Astria) find the optimal path.

• UniswapX Model: Users sign intents; off-chain solvers compete for best execution.
• Parallelization: A shared sequencer can batch and route intents across rollups.
• Optimal Execution: Solvers can leverage Across, LayerZero, or CEXs for best price.

Build AA as a dedicated, sovereign rollup or settlement layer. Use a modular DA layer (Celestia, EigenDA) and a shared sequencer for security and interoperability.

• Sovereign Security: Your AA logic has its own fraud/validity proofs.
• Plug-in Modules: Integrate session keys, social recovery, and fee sponsorship as separate modules.
• Universal Entry Point: A single, chain-agnostic contract becomes the user's identity across all rollups.

Monetize the AA infrastructure layer directly. This is the AWS for Smart Accounts, offering gas sponsorship, key management, and compliance tooling.

• Recurring Revenue: Subscription for gas abstraction and security services.
• Data Monetization: Anonymous aggregate intent data is a new asset class.
• Protocol Capture: The AA layer becomes the primary user relationship, not the dApp.

Move assets and state between chains for AA users using light-client proofs, not locked liquidity. This makes cross-chain AA secure and capital efficient.

• IBC Model: Use light clients to verify state proofs on destination chains.
• No Bridging Risk: Users never rely on a third-party's locked capital.
• Native Composability: Smart accounts can interact with any chain as if it's local.

The logical conclusion: each user's smart account is a micro-rollup. Their personal sequencer (phone/cloud) batches transactions, posts proofs to a DA layer, and settles.

• Ultimate Sovereignty: Users control their own execution and sequencing.
• True Portability: Identity and assets are independent of any L1/L2.
• Hyper-Personalization: Custom VM, privacy, and fee rules per account.