Ethereum and Base abandon effort to align account abstraction standards

Ethereum and Coinbase-backed layer-2 network Base have abandoned efforts to align their native account abstraction standards, EIP-8141 and EIP-8130. The breakdown, announced by Ethlabs researcher Derek Chiang on September 14, 2026, stems from diverging priorities: Ethereum focuses on censorship resistance and security, while Base optimizes for scale and compliance. This split shifts the integration burden to wallet developers, who must now support multiple transaction formats.

EIP-8141 collaboration breakdown

• ▪The collaborative talks failed because Ethereum developers prioritized censorship resistance, privacy, and security, while Base developers prioritized scalability, customization, and compliance
• ▪Ethlabs researcher Derek Chiang announced on September 14, 2026, that the collaboration to reconcile Base's EIP-8130 and Ethereum's EIP-8141 broke down during the preceding week
• ▪Ethereum and Coinbase-backed layer-2 network Base have abandoned their collaborative effort to establish a shared account-abstraction standard for crypto wallets

Account abstraction design differences

• ▪EIP-8130 includes an L1 profile with permissive authenticator acceptance and an L2 profile that restricts the native transaction path to approved canonical authenticators
• ▪Base's EIP-8130, authored by Coinbase engineer Chris Hunter, combines a typed transaction with an onchain keystore to explicitly declare authenticators and make validation costs predictable
• ▪Ethereum's EIP-8141 introduces Frame Transactions, which divide a transaction into programmable contract calls to handle validation, execution, and gas payment using EVM code

Layer-2 competitive pressure

• ▪Ethereum core developer Matt Garnett stated that market competition forces layer-2 networks to ship features faster than Ethereum layer-1, making technical divergence inevitable
• ▪Crypto lawyer Gabriel Shapiro argued that the technical split between EIP-8141 and EIP-8130 makes it harder to sustain the narrative that layer-2 growth inherently benefits Ethereum

Wallet developer integration burden

• ▪EIP-8130 maintains cross-chain portability by allowing accounts to function on non-supporting EVM chains through ERC-4337 or alternative transport mechanisms
• ▪The breakdown of the shared standard shifts the integration burden to wallet and application developers, who may have to support two distinct native transaction formats

Ethereum Hegotá upgrade timeline

• ▪Ethereum developers could begin implementing the Hegotá upgrade in late 2026, following the launch of the Glamsterdam upgrade in the second half of 2026
• ▪The Ethereum Foundation Protocol cluster has designated EIP-8141 as a 'must-ship' headliner item for the upcoming Hegotá hard fork upgrade