Arbitrum Implements Enhanced Support for Account Abstraction to Improve L2 Transactions

Arbitrum has officially activated support for the account abstraction endpoint on its One and Nova mainnets, following the successful passage of AIP-2. This proposal, known as AIP-2, was designed to activate support for a new RPC endpoint, eth_sendRawTransactionConditional, on Arbitrum’s One and Nova mainnets. The endpoint was developed to address a specific issue related to the validation and execution of bundled transactions for submission to an alternative mempool.

The Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4337 has generated significant momentum for account abstraction across the EVM ecosystem. However, it also introduced a potential problem for bundlers working on Layer 2 (L2) transactions. The delay between simulated transaction validation and final inclusion by sequencers could lead to the reverting of bundle submissions, resulting in lost value for the bundler and discouraging the operation of these services.

The activation of eth_sendRawTransactionConditional endpoint on Arbitrum’s mainnets aims to address issues with bundled transactions and enhance user experience.

To tackle this issue, Ethereum researchers devised the eth_sendRawTransactionConditional endpoint. This new endpoint allows users to specify valid ranges for block height and timestamps, enabling sequencers to reject transactions that fail to meet the conditions for inclusion during the earlier validation stage.

Offchain Labs has already developed, tested, and implemented this endpoint in the v.2.0.14 update to Nitro, and it is now live on the Arbitrum testnet. The proposal requests that the Arbitrum DAO activate this endpoint for Arbitrum mainnets.

The activation of the eth_sendRawTransactionConditional endpoint is part of a broader initiative to develop account abstraction standards within the Ethereum ecosystem. Its motivation lies in addressing the risk of reverting bundle submissions due to a lag between the initial transaction submission and its eventual inclusion.

With the eth_sendRawTransactionConditional endpoint in place, users can specify valid ranges for block height and timestamps, allowing sequencers to reject transactions that don’t meet the inclusion conditions during the validation stage.

Now that AIP-2 has passed, the implementation steps for the proposal will be carried out. This includes changing the load balancer config value as specified in the proposal’s specifications.

The activation of this endpoint is expected to enhance the efficiency and security of L2 transactions on Arbitrum, aligning it with the broader Ethereum ecosystem. It will enable users to access potential improvements in user experience, leading to smoother and more reliable transactions on the platform.