Ethereum Pectra Hard Fork Will Integrate EIP-3074 To Ease Private Keys Recovery

Jimmy Aki
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Tim Beiko, a prominent Ethereum developer, disclosed on April 11 that the upcoming hard fork dubbed “Pectra” will integrate the EIP-3074, which is designed to enable users to retrieve lost assets through a “social recovery” tool.

EIP-3074 Upgrade Will Use “Invoker Contract” for Assets Recovery

Beiko confirmed the EIP-3074 addition to the Pectra hard fork via a thread post on X (formerly Twitter).

The EIP-3074 introduces a social recovery tool, a major development for Ethereum users who previously risked losing their crypto funds once they lost the private keys.

This upgrade, implemented through the Pectra hard fork, provides a solution to this problem. It allows Ethereum users to delegate ownership of their assets to an “invoker contract” using a digital signature. An invoker contract is a smart contract used to execute transactions or perform functions on behalf of another contract or user.

This feature is important because it enables more efficient and secure transactions, as users may no longer need to manage their private keys for each transaction. They can authorize invoker contracts to enable a third party to conduct transactions and other functions on their behalf.

The EIP-3074 upgrade social recovery tool will be made possible through the implementation of the AUTH and AUTHCALL opcodes.

Ethereum Pectra
Structures of AUTH and AUTHCALL Opcodes | Source: Cygaar

The AUTH opcode enables an Externally Owned Account (EOA) to authorize another account. Once properly signed in, then AUTHCALL allows the authorized account to execute calls on behalf of the authorizing account, with the user identified as the caller instead of the invoker contract.

However, the use of invoker contracts via a digital signature has raised concerns, as it involves users delegating ownership of their assets, potentially exposing them to cyberattacks, which could drain all assets.

Some experts expressed skepticism about the EIP-3074 digital signature. They believe it’s risky for a network to integrate digital signatures with decentralized applications (dApp).

They fear such a feature could pave the way for attacks by bad actors.

Nevertheless, experts expect formally verified and fully audited invoker contracts to become available on Ethereum after the Pectra hard fork, which is reportedly expected to occur in Q4 of 2024 or early 2025.

New Capabilities of EIP-3074 Upgrade

In addition to implementing a social recovery tool through an invoker contract, crypto enthusiasts are excited about the EIP-3074 being a major game changer to the Ethereum user experience.

The upgrade is set to bring new capabilities, including single transaction approvals, batch transactions, and sponsored transactions.

The EIP-3074 upgrade streamlines transaction approvals in wallets by allowing them to be conducted in a single transaction rather than the common practice of requiring separate transactions.

Users won’t need any Ether in their wallet to transfer funds, as the entity behind the invoker contract can pay for the transaction upfront.

Uniswap Labs founder Hayden Adams expressed excitement on X about the capabilities of the EIP-3074 implementation in the Pectra hard fork.

He stated,

“eip3074 inclusion will be a monumental upgrade to ethereum UX. Congrats and thanks to everyone that memed this into existence. Industry should make an effort to create compatibility for 4337 wallets to interact with 3074 contracts much like eip1271 has created compatibility between safes and EOAs today.”

About Jimmy Aki PRO INVESTOR

Based in the UK, Jimmy is an economic researcher with outstanding hands-on and heads-on experience in Macroeconomic finance analysis, forecasting and planning. He has honed his skills having worked cross-continental as a finance analyst, which gives him inter-cultural experience. He currently has a strong passion for regulation and macroeconomic trends as it allows him peek under the global bonnet to see how the world works.