> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.abs.xyz/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Native Account Abstraction

> Learn how native account abstraction works on Abstract.

## What Are Accounts?

On Ethereum, there are two types of [accounts](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/accounts/):

1. **Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs)**: Controlled by private keys that can sign transactions.
2. **Smart Contract Accounts**: Controlled by the code of a [smart contract](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/smart-contracts/).

By default, Ethereum expects transactions to be signed by the private key of an **EOA**, and expects
the EOA to pay the [gas fees](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/gas/) of their own transactions,
whereas **smart contracts** cannot initiate transactions; they can only be called by EOAs.

This approach has proven to be restrictive as it is an all-or-nothing approach
to account security where the private key holder has full control over the account.
For this reason, Ethereum introduced the concept of [account abstraction](#what-is-account-abstraction),
by adding a second, separate system to run in parallel to the existing protocol to handle smart contract transactions.

## What is Account Abstraction?

Account abstraction allows smart contracts to initiate transactions (instead of just EOAs).

This adds support for **smart contract wallets** that unlock many benefits for users, such as:

* Recovery mechanisms if the private key is lost.
* Spending limits, session keys, and other security features.
* Flexibility in gas payment options, such as gas sponsorship.
* Transaction batching for better UX such as when using ERC-20 tokens.
* Alternative signature validation methods & support for different [ECC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptic-curve_cryptography) algorithms.

These features are essential to provide a consumer-friendly experience for users interacting on-chain.

However, since account abstraction was an afterthought on Ethereum, support for smart contract wallets is second-class,
requiring additional complexity for developers to implement into their applications.

In addition, users often aren’t able to bring their smart contract wallets
cross-application due to the lack of support for connecting smart contract wallets.

For these reasons, Abstract implements [native account abstraction](#what-is-native-account-abstraction)
in the protocol, providing first-class support for smart contract wallets.

## What is Native Account Abstraction?

Native account abstraction means **all accounts on Abstract are smart contract accounts** and all
transactions go through the same [transaction lifecycle](/how-abstract-works/architecture/transaction-lifecycle),
i.e. there is no parallel system like Ethereum implements.

Native account abstraction means:

* All accounts implement an [IAccount](/how-abstract-works/native-account-abstraction/smart-contract-wallets#iaccount-interface)
  standard interface that defines the methods that each smart contract account must implement (at a minimum).

* Users can still use EOA wallets such as [MetaMask](https://metamask.io/), however, these accounts are "converted" to the
  [DefaultAccount](/how-abstract-works/native-account-abstraction/smart-contract-wallets#defaultaccount-contract),
  (which implements `IAccount`) during the transaction lifecycle.

* All accounts have native support for [paymasters](/how-abstract-works/native-account-abstraction/paymasters),
  meaning any account can sponsor the gas fees of another account’s transaction, or pay gas fees in another ERC-20 token instead of ETH.

Native account abstraction makes building and supporting both smart contract wallets & paymasters much easier,
as the protocol understands these concepts natively. Every account (including EOAs)
is a smart contract wallet that follows the same standard interface and transaction lifecycle.

## Start building with Native Account Abstraction

View our [example repositories](https://github.com/Abstract-Foundation/examples)
on GitHub to see how to build smart contract wallets and paymasters on Abstract.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Smart Contract Wallets" icon="github" href="https://github.com/Abstract-Foundation/examples/tree/main/smart-contract-accounts">
    Build your own smart contract wallet that can initiate transactions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Paymasters" icon="github" href="https://github.com/Abstract-Foundation/examples/tree/main/paymasters">
    Create a paymaster contract that can sponsor the gas fees of other accounts.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>