Could Account Abstraction Make Self-Custody Easier for Crypto Users?

An interview with Eric and Ethan Parker, founders of a crypto wallet company, discussing their proprietary wallet safety and account abstraction features.

In this Premium interview, Laura talks with Eric and Ethan Parker, the founders of Giddy. They emphasized the importance of safety and accessibility when it comes to crypto wallets, highlighting two key features of their product: account abstraction and wallet safety.

Their Backgrounds

Eric and Ethan have been interested in crypto since their college days. Back in 2011, Eric introduced Ethan to Bitcoin, and the concept of “nerd internet money.” They later got involved in mining Ethereum, and in 2020, Eric discovered DeFi and fell in love with the idea of writing code on the blockchain. After helping a person recover lost funds on the blockchain, they decided to build a recoverable wallet and make DeFi “more accessible to everyone.”

“We knew we had to build with native DeFi, decentralized trustless, permissionless technology. We couldn't do this in a way that was kind of a centralized DeFi platform. We knew that that model wasn't the way to do it,” said Eric.

Account Abstraction: Making Self-Custody Easier

Account abstraction allows users to detach their identity and private key from the thing that holds their crypto, which solves the problem of storing and securing seed phrases.

The company has also implemented transaction batching, allowing users to complete complex transactions with just one button tap, which simplifies complex transactions for DeFi users. Instead of multiple steps and gas fees, Giddy allows users to complete multiple steps in a single transaction with a single gas fee, so that users can engage in DeFi activities easier and more cost-effectively.

Wallet Safety: A Proprietary Approach

The Parkers are also committed to ensuring the safety of their users' wallets. They have developed proprietary technology that chops up private keys into shards, making it easier to recover a wallet in the event of a catastrophic event.

As Ethan Parker explains, “The seed phrase itself has reached its total adjustable market. I don't think anybody else is safe or should be using a seed phrase to secure their own crypto. It's a very technical, antiquated way to do so, and it's just not recoverable.”

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What is a behind-the-scenes interview?

Behind-the-scenes interviews have long been part of my journalistic process. With only 100 episodes of Unchained slots per year, it's impossible to fit every project, creator, or builder into the editorial calendar. However, I love to learn about the latest developments in crypto, so I usually conduct a few such interviews per month with projects who I might want to have on an episode.

These chats usually last 30 minutes and I rarely do much research or write questions for them -- so get ready for tons of straightforward questions and more banter than you might find in an Unchained episode.

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