What is Account Abstraction?

Executive summary: This article explains Ethereum account abstraction (EIP-4337), describing how smart-contract-based account wallets enable features like multi-signature approval, social recovery, transaction whitelists, session keys, and alternative gas payment mechanisms; it outlines the architecture (UserOperation, Bundler, EntryPoint, Account Factory, Paymaster) and the user-facing benefits for flexibility, usability, and security, and does not report any cyber incident or active threat.