What Are Smart Accounts?
On Ethereum, there are two types of accounts: Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs), such as MetaMask or Rabby wallets, and Smart Contract Accounts. Popularized by the ERC-4337 standard, Smart Contract Accounts can send and receive tokens just like EOAs, but rely on programmable code rather than a single private key to secure and recover wallet information. The benefits include:- Transaction batching: multiple actions executed in a single transaction
- Gas sponsorship: fees covered by paymasters on behalf of the user
- Session Key support: granular, time-limited permissions for automated execution
Why Smart Accounts Over Vaults?
By design, Zyfai uses personalized Smart Accounts rather than a shared vault for three reasons:- Self-custodial by default: each user has their own Smart Account, there is no shared pool where all funds sit in a single contract.
- Direct protocol interaction: your Smart Account interacts directly with the underlying DeFi protocols, not through an intermediary vault.
- Front-end independent: your Smart Account interacts with protocol contracts directly, not through their front-end interfaces. Even if a protocol’s front-end is compromised, your funds remain unaffected.
What Does Zyfai Use Exactly?
Zyfai uses the Safe7579 Adapter by Rhinestone: a smart contract that makes Safe Smart Accounts compliant with ERC-7579. Safe secures over $100B in crypto assets globally. Rhinestone is the author of ERC-7579 itself. The entire stack is audited and battle-tested. Since ERC-7579 is a superset of ERC-4337, the Safe7579 Adapter ensures full compliance with both standards. Technically, the Adapter serves two roles:- Safe Module: extends Safe account functionality to support ERC-7579 modules
- Fallback Handler: handles functions like
validateUserOpthat are required by ERC-7579 but not natively supported by Safe.
How It Works
- Account Creation: when a user or institution deploys a Zyfai Agent, a unique Safe Smart Account is created onchain under their ownership.
- Capital Isolation: all deposited funds reside exclusively within this account. Assets are never pooled or commingled.
- Permissioned Execution: the Safe is configured with a Session Key, scoped through the Security Proxy System, which grants the Zyfai Agent permission to execute only pre-approved transactions.
- Full Sovereignty: The owner retains the full control over deployed Safe Smart Account, enabling them to directly access, manage, or withdraw funds via the Safe UI at any time, independent of Zyfai.