Self-custody infrastructure provider Safe (formerly known as Gnosis Safe) is rolling out new tools for Web3 developers, letting them tap account abstraction as an alternative to the traditional private and public key crypto wallet setup.
Called Safe{Core}, the new software development kit (SDK) was launched in partnership with payments processing giant Stripe and Web3 infrastructure providers Gelato and Web3Auth. The project partners will help with certain technical aspects, such as user-centric features for fiat on-ramps, simplification of transaction fees and payment flows, as well user authentication.
Account abstraction, a key tenant of the Safe Wallet and Core solutions, has been the talk of crypto these days.
In essence, it means turning crypto wallets into if-then smart contracts that can be tailored for different needs. Depending on whether you're publishing a blog post or trading millions of dollars, you can adjust the security measures for the transaction.
“Account abstraction is the key to onboarding millions of new users and bringing Web2-like usability to Web3,” Safe co-founder Richard Meissner said in a statement, adding that last year’s events “has proven clearly the risks of placing absolute trust in third-party custodians.”
The collapse of various centralized crypto platforms, including FTX and Celsius, was yet another stark reminder of the importance of security hygiene and crypto's unofficial slogan: Not your keys, not your coins.
Safe, originally a product in the Gnosis ecosystem, rebranded to Safe in July 2022 after spinning off from Gnosis. Members of the Safe community also voted to launch the SafeDAO and the SAFE token. Safe’s custody infrastructure, which allows users to securely store Ethereum and ERC20 tokens and interact with decentralized applications, secures over $39 billion in assets, while Web3 projects such as Aave and 1inch, along with e-commerce giant Shopify, have opted for it as the default wallet of choice.
This is not to mention personalities such as Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin and Punk6529 who chose Safe wallet for holding their personal assets.
Now, with the launch of Safe{Core}, developer teams can tap the features made popular by the original wallet infrastructure provider, specifically the flexibility of account abstraction.
“You would be able to use a different (off-chain) authentication method, depending on where you are interacting," Meissner told Decrypt. "For logging into a website you can use a simple hot-wallet key, while for an interaction with a marketplace (i.e. OpenSea or CoW Swap) you would have to follow more strict authentication.”
According to Safe, account abstraction can also program an account to be controlled by a different kind of login such as an email instead of a seed phrase, or to have a third party pay for gas, thus granting users personal autonomy over their assets without compromising usability.
Bringing account abstraction to life
More importantly, according to Safe, account abstraction is an excellent way of onboarding new Web3 users from traditional business areas.
For example, a popular coffee shop chain can build an NFT-based loyalty program for non-crypto customers, spinning up multiple user accounts so that they can interact with the company just like they do in Web2.
This means, among other things, being able to log in without a seed phrase and avoid the risk of losing their precious points, or using credit cards for feeless payments.
“Safe has been at the forefront of account abstraction and is its most battle-tested and used implementation,” said Meissner. “With Safe{Core}, we are putting a modular stack in the hands of developers to grasp this massive opportunity."