The Coming Consolidation of AA SDKs: Winners and Losers

ZeroDev's Kernel is becoming the de facto standard by aggregating best-in-class modules (ERC-4337 EntryPoint, Safe{Core} AA SDK, Pimlico paymasters). It abstracts SDK complexity, forcing pure-play SDKs into obsolescence.

• Key Benefit: Developer one-stop-shop reduces integration time from weeks to hours.
• Key Benefit: Inherits security and liquidity from aggregated giants, not a single team.

Biconomy's early-mover advantage in smart accounts is threatened by modularity. Their bundled, monolithic SDK is losing to composable alternatives. Survival hinges on unbundling their stack and competing on individual service layers (bundler, paymaster).

• Key Benefit: Deep expertise in gas sponsorship and relay services remains valuable.
• Key Benefit: Large existing enterprise user base provides a runway for adaptation.

RPC providers like Alchemy and specialized infra like Pimlico will subsume SDK functions. They win by making AA a native RPC method (eth_sendUserOperation) and monetizing bundled services (bundling, paymaster, data). SDKs become thin clients to their infrastructure.

• Key Benefit: Unbeatable global node distribution and reliability.
• Key Benefit: Direct monetization via API calls and gas markups, not SDK licensing.

Wallet-native SDKs (Ambire, Coinbase Smart Wallet) have a captive distribution channel. They bypass the generic SDK battle by baking AA directly into the wallet experience, creating a closed but powerful ecosystem. Their SDK is a feature, not a product.

• Key Benefit: Instant user base of millions for on-ramp and deployment.
• Key Benefit: Seamless integration of wallet-specific features (recovery, session keys).

SDKs built around a single innovation (e.g., a novel signature scheme like ERC-7702) will be packaged as modules, not survive as full stacks. Their tech gets absorbed by aggregators like ZeroDev. They become feature teams, not infrastructure companies.

• Key Benefit: Deep technical innovation in cryptography.
• Key Benefit: Potential acquisition targets for aggregators seeking unique IP.

Long-term, the ERC-4337 EntryPoint and RIP-7560 native AA become the only true standards. SDK value shifts to bundler optimization and paymaster liquidity, not smart account logic. Winners operate at the protocol layer with $100M+ in staked assets for sponsorship.

• Key Benefit: Protocol-level standardization eliminates client risk.
• Key Benefit: Massive, defensible moat via economic security and latency.

Major Layer 2s like Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync bake their own AA systems directly into protocol-level infrastructure. This creates a powerful moat, making third-party SDKs redundant for their native ecosystems.\n- Native Integration Advantage: Direct access to sequencer mempools and gas subsidies.\n- Vendor Lock-in: DApps building on-chain need the chain's native AA tools to access full feature set.

Incumbent wallet giants like MetaMask and Trust Wallet refuse to custodialize their user bases. They resist external AA SDKs that abstract away their fee revenue and interface control, opting for limited, proprietary smart account implementations.\n- Revenue Protection: Wallet swap fees and gas kickbacks are a $1B+ annual business.\n- User Habit Inertia: Hundreds of millions of users are trained on EOA workflows; migration friction is immense.

Consolidation fails if the market demands best-of-breed, modular components instead of a monolithic SDK. Projects like Safe{Core}, Pimlico, and Biconomy could dominate specific verticals (signature aggregation, paymasters, bundlers).\n- Unbundled Value Capture: A single superior bundler service can capture >50% of relay volume across all SDKs.\n- Integration Complexity: DApps mix-and-match, preventing any one SDK from achieving full-stack dominance.

Aggressive global regulation (e.g., MiCA, OFAC sanctions) targets privacy-preserving features and programmable transaction flows central to AA. Compliance overhead fragments the tech stack by jurisdiction.\n- KYC'd Smart Wallets: Mandatory identity linking destroys permissionless composability.\n- Sanctioned Bundlers: Relayers face blacklisting, forcing regionalized infrastructure and killing network effects.

The next $100B+ on-chain use case (e.g., a global prediction market, on-chain AI agent economy) emerges with a custom account abstraction model tailored to its specific needs, bypassing general-purpose SDKs entirely.\n- Vertical Integration: The app's user experience and economics are so unique that generic AA is a bottleneck.\n- Proprietary Scale: At sufficient volume, building in-house becomes cheaper and more efficient than outsourcing.

The EIP-7702 vs. ERC-4337 vs. Native AA standards battle creates irreversible fragmentation. Chains and wallets pick competing standards, splitting developer mindshare and liquidity.\n- Standard Incompatibility: Smart accounts on Chain A cannot operate on Chain B without a wrapper.\n- Winner-Take-Most Stagnation: No single standard achieves critical mass, leaving the market perpetually divided.

The battle for the ERC-4337 middleware layer is a two-horse race. ZeroDev's modular, kernel-first approach appeals to sophisticated builders, while Biconomy's full-stack, productized SDK targets speed-to-market.

• ZeroDev's Edge: Agnostic kernel enables custom account logic and multi-chain gas abstraction via bundlers like Pimlico and Stackup.
• Biconomy's Edge: ~80% market share in early AA deployments, with a turnkey solution handling paymasters, bundlers, and relayers.

ERC-4337 bundlers are becoming low-margin infrastructure. Winners will be those offering value-added services, not just transaction ordering.

• Losers: Vanilla bundlers competing on sub-cent margins and ~500ms latency.
• Winners: Bundler-as-a-Service platforms like Pimlico and Stackup that bundle paymaster services, sponsorship logic, and MEV capture into one API.

Gas abstraction is the killer app for user adoption. The entity controlling the paymaster controls the user relationship and cash flow.

• Strategic Asset: Paymasters enable sponsored transactions, gasless onboarding, and stablecoin fee payment.
• Monetization: Fees on $10B+ of sponsored gas, plus data on user intent. Platforms like Pimlico and Biconomy are vertically integrating here.

Generic wallet SDKs (e.g., Rainbow, Web3Auth) will be disintermediated. Survival requires deep integration with a winning AA stack or focusing on a niche.

• Integration Path: Become the frontend layer for ZeroDev or Biconomy, handling key management and UX.
• Niche Path: Own a vertical like Gaming (sequence) or Institutional (safe), where generic AA fails.

Layer 2s with native AA support (e.g., zkSync, Starknet, Arbitrum) will bypass the SDK wars entirely. Their built-in account systems offer zero-cost abstraction and protocol-level security.

• Winner: L2s that make AA a primitive, not a feature. This creates vendor lock-in but superior UX.
• Loser: SDKs that treat these L2s as just another EVM chain, missing their native capabilities.

The winning investment thesis isn't in another AA SDK. It's in the aggregation layer that unifies them.

• Target: Infrastructure that abstracts across ZeroDev, Biconomy, and L2 native AA, providing a single API for developers. Think Router Protocol for intents.
• Outcome: The market will consolidate around 2-3 dominant middleware stacks, not 20 competing SDKs.