Written by: Zhixiong Pan
You’ve Actually Been Carrying a “Hardware Wallet” in Your Pocket All Along
The phones and computers we use daily actually have dedicated security chips built in. For example, the “Secure Enclave” in iPhones, or Keystore / Trust Zone / StrongBox in Android phones.
This independent physical area is commonly referred to as a TEE (Trusted Execution Environment). Its main feature is “input only, no output”: private keys are generated inside and never leave this physical area; the outside world can only request it to sign data.
This is essentially the standard for hardware wallets. And when these chips sign, they generally use an industry-standard algorithm curve selected by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology): secp256r1. This is also the cornerstone behind WebAuthn and FIDO2 (such as your fingerprint login or FaceID).
A Chasm Separated by Just One Letter
Awkwardly, Ethereum natively does not support this mainstream secp256r1.
Back then, the Bitcoin community, concerned that the NIST curve might have a “nation-state backdoor,” chose the relatively obscure secp256k1, so Ethereum inherited this curve tradition when designing its account system.
Although r1 and k1 differ by just one letter, mathematically they are completely different languages. This leads to a huge pain point: the security chip in your phone is completely confused when facing Ethereum—it cannot directly sign Ethereum transactions.
If the Hardware Can’t Be Changed, Make This Version “Compatible”
Obviously, Ethereum cannot force Apple or Samsung to change their chip designs to support secp256k1. The only way is for Ethereum itself to adapt to secp256r1.
Can we use smart contract code to verify r1 signatures? In theory, yes, but the math is too complex—one verification could consume hundreds of thousands of Gas, making it economically unfeasible.
Therefore, in the Fusaka upgrade, developers unleashed a powerful tool: precompiled contracts (Precompile). This is like opening a “backdoor” or “plugin” in the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Instead of having the EVM compute step by step, the verification function is written directly into the client’s underlying code. Developers only need to call a specific address to complete the verification at a very low cost.
In EIP-7951, this cost is fixed at 6900 Gas, dropping from hundreds of thousands to just a few thousand—finally entering the range of “usable in real-world products.”
The Last Piece of the Account Abstraction Puzzle
The implementation of this EIP means we can finally sign and authorize smart accounts on Ethereum within the TEE environment of a mobile phone.
It’s important to note that this does not apply to your current MetaMask EOA addresses (since their public key generation logic is still k1).
It is specifically designed for “account abstraction” (AA wallets). In the future, your wallet will no longer be a string of mnemonic words, but a smart contract. This contract will state:
“As long as this fingerprint (r1 signature) is verified, transfers are allowed.”
Summary
EIP-7951 may not make mnemonic phrases disappear overnight, but it has finally removed the biggest stumbling block on Ethereum’s path to mass adoption.
Previously, users always faced a harsh choice: Want “bank-level” self-custody security? You’d have to buy a OneKey, Keystone, or Ledger, and guard your mnemonic phrase as if it were a gold bar. Want the smoothest experience? You’d have to keep your coins on an exchange or custodial wallet, at the cost of giving up control (sacrificing decentralization).
After the Fusaka upgrade, this dilemma will no longer exist.
With the implementation of EIP-7951, “your phone as a hardware wallet” will gradually become a reality. For the next billion new users, they may never need to know what a “private key” is, nor face the psychological pressure of writing down 12 words.
All they’ll need to do is, just like buying coffee, scan their face or press their fingerprint, and the iPhone’s security chip will use secp256r1 to sign the transaction, which will then be verified via Ethereum’s native precompiled contract.
This is the right way for Ethereum to embrace its next billion users: not arrogantly demanding users learn complex cryptography, but humbly adapting to the universal standards of the internet and proactively entering users’ pockets.
