Welcome back to the highly anticipated Part 2 of our series, “Meet the Top 10 ERC-4337 Projects to Watch in 2023.” In our previous article, we delved into these exceptional projects: Biconomy, Etherspot, Safe (formerly Gnosis Safe), Argent, and Blocto.

This time around, we are thrilled to present the next wave of groundbreaking projects poised to make a significant impact in the EVM ecosystem. 

Join us as we introduce the next five projects, uncover their unique offerings, and explore their key features. If you’re not sure yet what ERC-4337 is and you want to learn more, you can take a deep dive into this super helpful article introducing ERC-4337. Get ready to be inspired by the cutting-edge advancements and benefits these ERC-4337 projects bring not only to the Ethereum ecosystem, but also to the broader Web3 space. 

Here are the projects we can’t wait to introduce:

• Pimlico
• Thirdweb
• Permissive
• Ambire Wallet
• Soul Wallet

Let’s dive in!

Pimlico

Like its name implies, Pimlico is a London-based ERC-4337 project that is creating the infrastructure layer for dApps and wallets that will power Ethereum’s transition to smart contract wallets. For dApps, their infrastructure sponsors transactions to increase the number of your dApp users. 

Pimlico’s latest feature is the ERC-20 Paymaster–the first fully audited and permissionless ERC-20 Paymaster–which offers developers not only plug-and-play APIs to sponsor your user’ transactions at no extra cost to you, but also a Typescript SDK to interact with the paymaster. Moreover, their paymaster supports both verification and sponsorship. Essentially, their ERC-20 Paymaster sponsors the gas fees for a UserOperation, only if a user’s smart contract wallet reimburses the paymaster. The smart contract wallet also covers transaction fees with ERC-20 tokens and without the need for third-party intermediaries, in addition supporting bundler infrastructure.

Thirdweb

Thirdweb is a complete all-in-one solution for Web3 development. They provide SDKs for all sorts of programming languages and smart contracts. In addition to SDKs, they provide developer tools like plug-and-play UI components and infrastructure services, such as authentication and fiat on-ramping, ultimately to build better Web3 applications. Their fully managed infrastructure services, packaged in a single toolkit, enables developers to build for scale. Some of their products include Storage, a fast and decentralized storage, Deploy, a seamless contract-deployment workflow, and Dashboard, a space to manage, analyze and interact with your Web3 apps.

In regards to ERC-4337, Thirdweb provides a Wallet SDK that enables both the deployment and management of smart contract wallets for users to unlock fully programmable crypto wallets with transaction batching, multi-ownership, conditional gasless, and other customized functionalities.

Permissive

Permissive is a unique, open-source SDK provider, in addition to enabling automation, gas abstraction, multi-signature functionality, and transaction batching. They are focused on not only simplifying the development process for dApps by providing SDKs built on ERC-4337 standards. So, how does Permissive work? The dApp’s Operator assists users in sending UserOp transactions by granting them specific transaction permissions, including defining the maximum fee and value for their mission from their Permissive SDK-supported wallet.

Their authorization framework, which is facilitated by account abstraction, sets them apart from other projects. Users can delegate partial permissions to Permissive for the automated execution of certain tasks. Furthermore, dApps are able to establish a standardized process for sending user transactions to core elements of ERC-4337 like Bundler & Paymaster, enabling developers to integrate customizable account abstraction capabilities for wallets to enhance user experience.

Ambire Wallet

Currently available on several EVMs and L2s, Ambire Wallet is an ERC-4337 compatible wallet enabling easy and secure self-custodial services by leveraging account abstraction. For example, users can enjoy enhanced security measures, such as multi-signature functionality and account recovery. With Ambire Wallet, gas fee management is made easy and any gas fees can be paid with stablecoins or their native ERC-20 $WALLET token.

Their other key features include multi-chain compatibility, hardware wallet support, and secure email login. In addition to Ethereum, Ambire Wallet is also compatible with Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, and eight other major chains. Their hardware wallet support allows users to utilize Ambire as the interface while using popular hardware crypto wallets like Ledger and Trezor. Additionally, it’s important to note that Ambire Wallet is completely web-site based–so no need to install a browser extension to use it!

Soul Wallet

Based in China and founded in 2022 by a former employee of ByteDance and Meituan, Soul Wallet is an open-source smart contract wallet powered by ERC-4337 with account abstraction features, such as social recovery with anonymous guardians, secure upgradeability, and the ability to pay for gas fees with stablecoins (e.g. USDC, USDT, DAI) and ERC-20 tokens. Additionally, users can simply set up a wallet in seconds without the need for recovery phrases.

By leveraging account abstraction, their social recovery with anonymous guardians feature enables users to specify users to have the option to specify trusted contacts or guardians during wallet creation. Moreover, these guardians remain anonymous and their identities are only revealed on-chain during the recovery process, ensuring a certain level of privacy. This anonymous guardian setup serves as a safeguard against social attacks that target the guardians, thereby significantly increasing the security of the wallet.

End note

In conclusion, we have now explored the top 10 ERC-4337 projects to watch in 2023, both in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series. If you haven’t already, you should first read Part 1 of this article series to get a more holistic understanding of the landscape of top ERC-4337 projects to watch in 2023! 

From Biconomy to Soul Wallet, these projects represent the cutting-edge advancements and benefits that ERC-4337 brings to the Ethereum ecosystem and the broader Web3 space. Each project offers unique features and solutions to enhance user experience and simplify development processes. Whether it’s Pimlico’s infrastructure layer for dApps and wallets, Thirdweb’s all-in-one Web3 development solution, Permissive’s open-source SDK, Ambire Wallet’s multi-chain compatibility, or Soul Wallet’s social recovery, these projects are driving innovation and shaping the future of decentralized applications. 

As developers, it’s essential to stay informed and explore the capabilities of these projects to leverage their potential and contribute to the growth of the Ethereum ecosystem. Stay tuned for more exciting developments from Blocto in the world of ERC-4337–starting with OpenBlocto. Click here to join the waitlist!

Hungry for more knowledge? For more reading on ERC-4337 and its implications to the EVM ecosystem, check out this in-depth educational article to satiate your curiosity!

Also, if you haven’t already heard the news, the BLT token has been revamped. Click here to learn about the changes!