Show notes
Today's episode is all about EIP-7212.To understand EIP-7212, first we need to talk about Passkeys.Passkeys are a new authentication standard designed to replace passwords.With passkeys, when you sign into an app or website, a passkey is generated on your device, and saved either locally, to a passkey manager, or to a hardware device like a Yubikey. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla are adopting passkeys because they are more secure than the traditional username and password scheme.Passkeys use the secp256r1 elliptic curve, or R1 for short. Bitcoin and Ethereum use the incompatible K1 variation. In other words, there is no built-in way to verify an R1 signature inside of a smart contract.EIP-7212 proposes to add support for the R1 curve directly to the EVM as a precompiled contract, so that every modern device in the world will be able to sign smart wallet transactions natively, no software wallet required.On today's episode, I'm joined by Ulaş Erdoğan, Jerome de Tychey, and Lionello Lunesu.Ulaş Erdoğan is the co-author of EIP-7212. He is also the founder of Clave, an account abstraction smart wallet.Jerome de Tychey is CEO of software dev firm Cometh, which are building AA smart wallets under their Alembic product line. He is also president of Ethereum France, which organizes EthCC.Lionello Lunesu is an electrical engineer and software developer with experience building software and hardware wallets. Lionello was prototyping and writing about using the R1 curve on the EVM in 2016.This episode is all about the pros and cons of adding an R1 precompile to the EVM.This was an exciting conversation about a deep technical topic that could have major implications for mainstream adoption. I'm excited to share this panel, which gives insight into next gen wallet and authentication technology, and the Ethereum Improvement Proposal process. My thanks to Ulaş, Jerome, and Lionello!As always, this show is provided as entertainment and does not constitute legal, financial, or tax advice or any form of endorsement or suggestion. Crypto has risks and you alone are responsible for doing your research and making your own decisions.Links EIP-7212 Igloo tools wallet demo Alembic wallet demo EIP-7212 Ethereum Magicians Thread A Tale of Two Curves by Lionello Lunesu (2016) EIP-101 Satoshi’s Genius: Unexpected Ways in Which Bitcoin Dodged Some Cryptographic Bullets by Vitalik Buterin (2013) evm.codes page on Precompiled Contracts Safari 17 largeBlob KZG Ceremony Passkey Signer Package post by rishotics on Eth Research Progressive precompiles via CREATE2 shadowing on Ethereum Magicians Apple: About the security of passkeysChapters((00:03:38) Lionello Lunesu & The Tale of Two Curves (2016)((((((((((((((((((((((((01:18:38) Progressive precompiles