Ethereum, Base wallet standards talks fail, Ethlabs researcher says

Ethereum and Base failed to reach an agreement on a shared account abstraction standard, resulting in each chain pursuing distinct designs, according to Ethlabs researcher Derek Chiang. The talks broke down last week, leading to different account abstraction standards for Ethereum and Base. Chiang, a founding member of Ethlabs and co-author of Ethereum's EIP-8141 proposal, stated that interoperability standards took a back seat to each chain's core goals, placing the responsibility on wallets.

Wallet developers may need to support separate transaction formats to ensure a consistent user experience. Ethereum is progressing with Frame Transactions under EIP-8141 as a "headline" item under the Hegotá upgrade, which aims to introduce native account abstraction and establish a path towards post-quantum authentication. Meanwhile, Base is developing native account abstraction using Keystore under EIP-8130, currently live on its devnet.

This divergence highlights the different priorities between layer-1 and layer-2 blockchain networks, with L1s focusing on censorship, capture-resistance, open-source, privacy, and security features, while L2s prioritize scalability. Chiang believes the separation will not necessarily lead to a negative outcome, as both Ethereum and Base can now "innovate on AA to the maximal extent in accordance with their own visions."

Ethereum developers are expected to begin implementing Hegotá in late 2026, following Glamsterdam, a significant upgrade designed to improve scalability, harden the L1, and enhance user experience.