Alvin Lang Jan 25, 2025

Account abstraction enhances blockchain usability by integrating smart contract features into wallets, addressing security and user experience challenges.

Account abstraction is emerging as a pivotal development in blockchain technology, aimed at enhancing user experience and security by embedding smart contract capabilities into crypto wallets. This innovation addresses critical issues associated with traditional wallets, known as Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs), according to BNB Chain.

The Need for Account Abstraction

EOAs pose significant challenges, especially for new users, as they require private keys for transaction processing. The loss of these keys could result in the loss of all digital assets, making key management a daunting prospect. Furthermore, EOAs are limited in performing complex transactions, such as multi-signature operations, and are not cost-effective due to high gas fees.

Account abstraction seeks to mitigate these issues by utilizing smart contract wallets, enabling automated transactions, optimized gas fees, and features like two-factor authentication, social recovery, and spending limits. This approach aims to simplify user interaction with blockchain networks without necessitating major protocol changes.

How Account Abstraction Works

The process involves several key components: UserOperation, Bundler, EntryPoint, Paymaster, and Aggregator. UserOperations differ from traditional transactions by incorporating additional fields and utilizing a separate mempool for transaction bundling. Bundlers play a crucial role by aggregating UserOps into a single transaction, which is then processed by the EntryPoint contract.

The EntryPoint verifies each UserOp, ensuring sufficient funds for gas fees and validating signatures. Paymasters facilitate gas payments in tokens other than the native blockchain token, while Aggregators optimize transaction processing by consolidating multiple user signatures into one, enhancing efficiency.

Benefits of Account Abstraction

Account abstraction introduces several advantages, including enhanced security through custom verification logic and multi-signature requirements, user-friendly onboarding by eliminating the need for native tokens, and cost efficiency by bundling operations to reduce gas fees. Additionally, it replaces seed phrases with secure alternatives like biometrics, supports shared accounts, and ensures interoperability across Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chains.

Account Abstraction on BNB Chain

On the BNB Chain, account abstraction enables interaction with BSC or opBNB via smart contract wallets instead of EOAs. This is facilitated by infrastructure providers like Biconomy and Stackup, which offer developer SDKs and Paymasters, and wallet services such as Trust Wallet, focusing on user-friendly features like social login and account recovery.

Account abstraction represents a significant stride towards making blockchain technology more accessible and secure, paving the way for broader adoption in the Web3 space.

Image source: Shutterstock

• blockchain
• account abstraction
• crypto wallets

BNB Chain Completes 30th BNB Token Burn, Reducing Supply by Over 1.6 Million BNB

Ted Hisokawa Jan 25, 2025 07:07

BNB Chain has successfully completed its 30th quarterly BNB token burn, eliminating over 1.6 million BNB from circulation, valued at approximately $1.16 billion.

The BNB Foundation has announced the successful completion of the 30th quarterly BNB token burn, a significant event for the BNB Chain community. This burn has effectively removed over 1.6 million BNB tokens from circulation, with an approximate value of $1.16 billion at the time of the burn, according to BNB Chain.

Details of the Burn

The total BNB burned in this cycle amounts to 1,634,200.95 BNB. This figure includes two components: an actual burn of 1,524,200.95 BNB and an additional 110,000 BNB from the Pioneer Burn Program. The transaction ID for this significant burn can be viewed on BscScan, showcasing transparency in the process.

The Pioneer Burn Program facilitated the burn of 110,000 BNB. This program compensates BNB Beacon Chain validators who leave unrecoverable self-staked BNB, thereby contributing to the token burn. As a result, the total remaining BNB to be burned stands at 42,465,780.15 BNB, with the current total supply at 142,465,780.15 BNB.

Understanding BNB's Role

BNB serves as the native coin for the BNB Chain ecosystem, playing a crucial role in powering transactions across the BNB Smart Chain (BSC), opBNB L2s, and the BNB Greenfield blockchain. Beyond transaction facilitation, BNB acts as a governance token, enabling holders to participate in decentralized on-chain governance. It also functions as a strategic reserve asset, crucial for the BNB Executive Total Value Locked (TVL) campaign, which aims to drive ecosystem growth.

Since its mainnet launch on April 18, 2019, BNB has transitioned from the Ethereum Network to BNB Chain, embodying the "Build and Build" philosophy. The Auto-Burn mechanism is a key feature, designed to gradually decrease the total supply to 100 million BNB, with adjustments based on BNB's price and the number of blocks generated on BSC each quarter.

Burn Mechanisms

The BNB Auto-Burn mechanism ensures an independently auditable and objective process, separate from the Binance centralized exchange. The burn figures are reported quarterly, and the process is transparent to the community. This quarter's burn occurred on BSC, with the corresponding BNB sent to a "blackhole" address to ensure its removal from circulation.

Additionally, BNB employs a real-time burning mechanism based on gas fees. BSC validators determine the ratio of gas fees collected in each block, which are then burned at a fixed rate. Since the implementation of BEP95, approximately 248,000 BNB have been burned through this method.

Pioneer Burn Program

The BNB Pioneer Burn Program assists users in recovering lost BNB and pegged tokens due to honest mistakes. This program covers these losses through the quarterly token burn events, adding an extra layer of security and user support within the ecosystem.