Wallets on Ethereum

What You Probably Got Wrong

EIP-7702 is live. Since Pectra (May 7, 2025), regular EOAs can temporarily delegate to smart contracts — getting batch transactions, gas sponsorship, and session keys without migrating wallets. This is NOT "coming soon." It shipped.

Account abstraction status: ERC-4337 is growing but still early (Feb 2026). Major implementations: Kernel (ZeroDev), Biconomy, Alchemy Account Kit, Pimlico. EntryPoint v0.7: 0x0000000071727De22E5E9d8BAf0edAc6f37da032.

Safe secures $100B+. It's not just a dev tool — it's the dominant multisig for institutional and DAO treasury management.

EIP-7702: Smart EOAs (Live Since May 2025)

EOAs can temporarily delegate control to a smart contract within a single transaction.

How it works:

1. •EOA signs an authorization to delegate to a contract
2. •During transaction, EOA's code becomes the contract's code
3. •Contract executes complex logic (batching, sponsorship, etc.)
4. •After transaction, EOA returns to normal

What this enables:

• •Batch 10 token approvals into one transaction
• •Gas sponsorship / meta-transactions for EOA users
• •Session keys with limited permissions
• •Custom authorization logic
• •Eliminates "approval fatigue" (approve + execute → one step)

Status (Feb 2026): Deployed on mainnet. MetaMask, Rainbow adding support. Still early for production agents — use standard EOAs or Safe until tooling matures.

Safe (Gnosis Safe) Multisig

Key Addresses (v1.4.1, deterministic across chains)

Same addresses on Mainnet, Arbitrum, Base, and all major chains.

Safe for AI Agents

Pattern: 1-of-2 Safe

• •Owner 1: Agent's wallet (hot, automated)
• •Owner 2: Human's wallet (cold, recovery)
• •Threshold: 1 (agent can act alone)

Benefits: If agent key is compromised, human removes it. Human can always recover funds. Agent can batch transactions.

CRITICAL Guardrails for AI Agents

Key Safety Rules

1. •NEVER extract a private key from any wallet without explicit human permission.
2. •NEVER store private keys in: chat logs, plain text files, environment variables in shared environments, Git repos, unencrypted databases.
3. •NEVER move funds without human confirmation. Show: amount, destination (checksummed), gas cost, what it does. Wait for explicit "yes."
4. •Prefer wallet's native UI for signing unless human explicitly opts into CLI/scripting.
5. •Use a dedicated wallet with limited funds for agent operations. Never the human's main wallet.
6. •Double-check addresses. Use ethers.getAddress() or equivalent for checksum validation. A single wrong character = permanent loss.
7. •Test on testnet first. Or use local Anvil fork.
8. •Implement spending limits. Require human approval above threshold. Use Safe multisig for high-value operations.
9. •Log all transactions (never keys). Keep audit trail.
10. •Assume keys will be compromised. Design so a compromised agent key doesn't mean total loss.

Storage Options (Worst to Best)

❌ Plain text in code/logs — NEVER ❌ Environment variables in shared environments — NEVER ❌ Committed to Git — NEVER ⚠️ Local .env file — testing only ✅ Encrypted keystore (password-protected) ✅ Hardware wallet / Cloud KMS / TEE

Safe Transaction Pattern

async function sendSafely(wallet, to, value) {
  const checksummedTo = ethers.getAddress(to); // validates
  const gasEstimate = await wallet.estimateGas({ to: checksummedTo, value });
  const feeData = await wallet.provider.getFeeData();
  const gasCost = gasEstimate * feeData.maxFeePerGas;
  const totalCostUSD = Number(ethers.formatEther(value + gasCost)) * 1960;
  
  if (totalCostUSD > 10) {
    // Show details and wait for human approval
  }
  
  const tx = await wallet.sendTransaction({
    to: checksummedTo,
    value,
    gasLimit: gasEstimate * 120n / 100n, // 20% buffer
    maxFeePerGas: feeData.maxFeePerGas,
    maxPriorityFeePerGas: feeData.maxPriorityFeePerGas,
  });
  
  const receipt = await tx.wait();
  logTransaction({ hash: tx.hash, to: checksummedTo, value, block: receipt.blockNumber });
  return receipt;
}

Further Reading

• •Safe docs: https://docs.safe.global/
• •EIP-7702 spec: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7702
• •ERC-4337 spec: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4337