EIP-7702 & hardware wallets: Is your cold storage ready for smarter EOAs?

Originally published as an X Article.

EIP-7702 lets a hardware-wallet-backed EOA execute smart-account logic without migrating funds or exposing private keys. Your cold storage model stays intact, but transaction signing becomes more powerful - and more explicit.

How does EIP-7702 change hardware wallet security?

EIP-7702 doesn’t weaken cold storage. It changes what your EOA can do during execution, not where your key lives.

Your private key stays on the hardware device. Your address stays the same.

What changes is that, for a single transaction, your EOA can temporarily behave like a smart account. This is best summarized by Vitalik’s mental model:

the whole point of 7702 is that the EOA sometimes turns into a smart contract wallet

so, 1271 / 6492 should work as-is or with very few changes?

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 26, 2025

In practice, EIP-7702 allows an EOA to delegate execution to a smart-account via an explicit authorization. Delegation remains active until the user updates or removes it through a separate transaction OR the user explicitly changes or revokes the delegation through another signed transaction. No contract code is deployed to the EOA itself, and no account migration is required.

What is the EIP-7702 execution model for hardware wallets?

This functionality, defined in the official EIP-7702 proposal, allows EOAs to delegate execution without deploying contract code to the account itself.

At a high level, the flow looks like this:

1. The user starts an action in the wallet where EIP-7702 helps.
2. The wallet prepares an EIP-7702 authorization request.
3. The hardware wallet signs the EIP-7702 authorization.
4. The wallet builds and sends an EIP-7702 transaction (type 0x04) that includes the signed authorization.
5. On-chain, the delegated smart-account logic executes as part of the transaction. Execution completes without deploying code to the EOA.

The key detail: You are not “giving your account away.” You are signing an execution mode. This design preserves cold-storage assumptions while unlocking smart-account UX.

What stays the same - and what actually changes?

What stays the same

• Key custody stays physical The private key never leaves Ledger, Trezor, or GridPlus.
• User confirmation stays mandatory Every delegation requires an on-device signature.
• Your address stays the same No new account. No migration tax.

What changes

• Execution becomes explicit In addition to the built-in protocol logic, execution can run through a chosen contract.
• Transactions become richer You may sign “delegate + execute a batch,” not just “send ETH.”

This is a shift in visibility - and in where trust is placed, not in who controls the keys.

What are the biggest misconceptions about EIP-7702 and cold storage?

Misconception #1: “EIP-7702 isn’t cold storage.”

Reality: EOAs already have logic - signature checks, nonce checks - it just lives at the protocol layer.

EIP-7702 temporarily moves some of that logic to the application layer. The security assumptions don’t fundamentally change.

I had a slot at the Account Abstraction Community Hub by @erc4337 at the @EFDevcon's World Fair, where I shared my experience from the @ambire browser-extension frontlines.

An honest, slightly chaotic lightning talk and open discussion about bringing EIP-7702 to life inside a… pic.twitter.com/VvkR0uzxdK

— superKalo.eth (@0xSuperKalo) November 18, 2025

Misconception #2: “DApps will drain you or force delegations.”

Reality: DApps do not gain the ability to delegate your account to a contract.

Delegation under EIP-7702 can only be created and signed by the wallet itself. No major wallet today plans to allow applications to autonomously delegate user accounts.

The interaction model is still mediated through wallet-controlled APIs such as EIP-5792 and paymaster services.

For most, the mental model of EIP-7702 is unclear.

Misconception #1: EIP-7702 is not cold storage
Delegating to a contract is perceived as giving away control and trusting a piece of external code.

In reality: all accounts have logic, even EOAs. It's just that EOAs have…

— Ivo 7702/acc (@Ivshti) March 15, 2025

What practical benefits does EIP-7702 unlock for hardware wallets?

EIP-7702 upgrades EOAs with smart-account powers without migration.

The practical wins fall into two buckets: better UX today, and safer evolution tomorrow.

Benefit #1: Transaction batching

Batching means multiple actions, one signature, one execution.

• Before EIP-7702: A user must approve multiple transactions one by one (approve → swap → bridge → stake).

• With EIP-7702: The user signs once, and the wallet executes the entire sequence atomically.

Fewer prompts mean fewer mistakes and less signing fatigue.

Benefit #2: Gas abstraction

With delegated execution, wallets can support:

• paying gas in tokens like USDC
• fee sponsorship
• paymasters

This removes the “I need ETH on this chain” UX trap - without pushing users into hot wallets.

Benefit #3: Session keys

Session keys enable scoped auto-approval:

• time-limited
• spend-limited
• action-limited

You approve once with the hardware wallet. A constrained key handles repetitive actions. The hardware wallet remains the root of trust.

Benefit #4: Multi-chain consistency

EIP-7702 aligns with the Ethereum Interoperability Layer vision:

consistent signing, batching, and gas logic across chains.

Less fragmentation means fewer wallet-specific hacks - and fewer user mistakes.

How does EIP-7702 affect Ledger and Trezor users today?

EIP-7702 is protocol-level. Hardware wallets are not.

So the real question isn’t “Does Ethereum support 7702?” It’s “Can my hardware wallet sign it?”

In practice, EIP-7702 becomes usable for hardware wallet users only once explicit support for signing EIP-7702 authorizations and 0x04 transactions are available.

Until then, such transactions cannot be signed by hardware wallets at all.

What does “EIP-7702 support” actually mean for hardware wallets?

For Ledger or Trezor users, real support at minimum means signing for EIP-7702 authorizations and 0x04 transactions. Without these capabilities, hardware wallets simply cannot participate in EIP-7702 flows.

However, safe and user-viable support goes further. High-quality EIP-7702 support also includes:

• Clear signing for EIP-7702 transactions.
• Displaying the delegation target contract
• Surfacing the execution intent
• UX that explains “delegate + execute”

If you cannot verify the delegation on-device, you are trusting the UI - not the hardware.

TL;DR: EIP-7702 + hardware wallets

• EIP-7702 matters: it unlocks smart-account capabilities for EOAs without forcing users to migrate addresses.
• It advances Ethereum’s interoperability goals by allowing wallets to unify signing, batching, gas payment, and capability interfaces across chains.
• Cold-storage security is not broken: EIP-7702 exposes execution logic EOAs already rely on, rather than introducing a new custody model.
• Adoption is wallet-gated: the ecosystem will only move as fast as hardware wallets support signing and surfacing 0x04 transactions.

EIP-7702 doesn’t ask you to trust dApps. It asks you to trust wallets and their delegations.