Ethereum and Base will implement different account abstraction standards after negotiations over a shared protocol broke down last week, according to Derek Chiang, a founding member and researcher at Ethlabs and co-author of Ethereum’s EIP-8141 proposal.
In a Monday X post, Chiang said interoperability standards became secondary to each chain’s core objectives, prompting both networks to pursue separate paths and “putting the burden on wallets.” The divergence could require wallet developers to support distinct transaction formats to deliver a consistent experience across the two networks. Account abstraction enables programmable rules for authorizing transactions and paying fees.
Ethereum is advancing Frame Transactions under EIP-8141 as a “headliner” feature of its Hegotá upgrade, which would introduce native account abstraction and create a pathway toward post-quantum authentication. Meanwhile, Base is developing its own native account abstraction through Keystore under EIP-8130, currently live on devnet.
Chiang said the split reflects differing priorities between layer-1 and layer-2 networks. L1s are increasingly focused on censorship resistance, capture-resistance, open-source principles, privacy, and security — favoring one set of account standards — while scalability-oriented L2s align more closely with frameworks like EIP-8130.
Rather than viewing the outcome negatively, Chiang argued that both chains are now “free to innovate on AA to the maximal extent in accordance with their own visions.”
Ethereum developers may begin implementing Hegotá in late 2026, following the Glamsterdam upgrade, which is considered one of the year’s most consequential upgrades. Glamsterdam aims to improve scalability, harden the layer-1 network, and enhance usability, with a mainnet launch expected sometime in the second half of 2026, per Ethereum’s public roadmap.
