The Ethereum Pectra upgrade introduced a significant upgrade in account abstraction accessibility, with multiple wallets already implementing the change.

Pectra introduced Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 7702, a change that Ivo Georgiev, founder and CEO of self-custodial smart wallet Ambire, described as “the single greatest UX upgrade to Ethereum so far.” Ambire is among the wallet providers that have already rolled out support for the new features since Pectra went live yesterday.

Ambire’s announcement shared with Cointelegraph explains that EIP-7702 brings smart account functionality to existing user accounts, letting them temporarily act as smart contracts. This results in the advantages of account abstraction being accessible without creating new dedicated onchain addresses, rendering the transition of existing addresses possible.

Another wallet that launched new features was Trust Wallet, allowing users to pay gas (transaction fees) in tokens such as stablecoins instead of Ether (ETH). The new wallets are also programmable and still ensure self-custody.

Source: Trust Wallet

Related: AI and account abstraction keys to mass Web3 adoption: X Spaces recap with Plena Finance

Ambire’s take on the update

According to an Ambire announcement shared with Cointelegraph, key features users can now enjoy without switching accounts include a crosschain by default architecture, with one dashboard showing balances on all chains. One wallet can be used across all blockchains, gas fees are abstracted and the system uses a decentralized finance (DeFi) aggregator Li.Fi for its swap and bridging needs.

The company also promises transaction simulation across all supported chains, scam application detection and minimal token approvals. This statement follows some developers raising concerns that EIP-7702 provided a new avenue for phishing campaigns to empty entire wallets at once.

Ambire also claimed that it does not rely on third-party services, allowing for better privacy features and higher reliability (no third party whose outage will result in a wallet outage). The firm also said that the new accounts are more accessible to AI agents:

“Account programmability enables AI agents to act upon your account in the future to enhance your portfolio yield, save your DeFi positions, claim airdrops automatically and more.”

Georgiev claimed that Ambire’s offering is the first on the market since Trust Wallet announced that it will be “live soon.” Ambire’s updated system was deployed minutes after the update during a live X conference.

Related: How smart accounts and account abstraction can unlock Ethereum’s full utility

Trust Wallet’s new systems

Trust Wallet’s announcement describes the upgrade as the biggest since Ethereum’s full transition to proof-of-stake in the “merge” event. The firm’s CEO, Eowyn Chen, said:

“EIP-7702 changes the game.”

Trust Wallet promises its users will be able to pay fees in tokens that are not Ether and bundle multiple actions in one transaction, for instance, approving, swapping and signing a transaction all at once. The new wallet will also support sponsored transactions where third parties can cover gas fees to onboard new users and automated actions such as subscriptions, dollar-cost averaging and more.

All those features will become available to existing users without re-creating new accounts with new seed phrases. Like Ambire, Trust Wallet also developed its account abstraction infrastructure in-house, minimizing data sharing and reliance on third parties.

“Our vision is to evolve wallets from static key holders into intelligent, user-friendly agents,” Chen said.

Magazine: They solved crypto’s janky UX problem — you just haven’t noticed yet

Doodles’ non-fungible token (NFTs) sales surged by 97% in the last 24 hours as digital collectible traders anticipate the project’s token generation event and airdrop. 

On May 8, data from CryptoSlam showed Doodles NFT sales topping $1.1 million, nearly doubling the previous day’s total. The spike placed Doodles in the third spot for daily NFT sales, following DMarket and Courtyard NFTs.

Over the past week, Doodles recorded $2.6 million in total sales volume, up 368% from the week prior and ranking fifth among all NFT collections, according to CryptoSlam.

The surge comes ahead of the launch of Doodles’ long-awaited DOOD token. The project announced on May 7 that the token generation event will take place on May 9.

Source: Doodles

Doodles to launch DOOD token and airdrop 

Doodles announced its memecoin launch on Feb. 13, saying it would mint 10 billion DOOD tokens on Solana. The project also said that it would bridge to the Base blockchain in the future. 

According to the team, 68% of the tokens will be allocated to community members: 30% to the Doodles community, 13% to the New Blood community and 25% as its ecosystem fund. 

Team members will receive 17% of the tokens, while the company gets 5% of the token supply. Doodles said these are subject to a one-year cliff unlock period and a three-year vesting period. The remaining 10% of the token supply is to be allocated to the project’s liquidity. 

Holders of Doodles NFTs are eligible to pre-register and receive an airdrop allocation of the tokens. Exchanges like Binance and Bybit announced that they would list the token on their trading platforms after the tokens are minted on May 9. 

Token allocation for the DOOD Solana memecoin. Source: Doodles

Related: Mattel to wind down its Hot Wheels Virtual Garage NFTs

NFT market hits $103 million in weekly sales

As Doodles and other top collections saw a surge in activity, total NFT market volume reached more than $103 million over the past seven days, a 7% increase from the previous week, according to CryptoSlam.

Ethereum-based NFTs still lead the charge with $26.5 million in sales in the last seven days. Polygon NFTs took the second spot with $19.1 million in sales, driven by real-world asset NFT platform Courtyard, which had over $17 million in sales alone, making it the top NFT collection for the week. 

Mythos Chain and Bitcoin-based NFTs also performed well for the week, having $16 million and $12 million in sales, respectively. 

Magazine: 12 minutes of nail-biting tension when Ethereum’s Pectra fork goes live

Key points:

Bitcoin’s realized cap is beating records and has almost reached the $900 billion mark.

The market is laying the foundations for a “potentially significant price breakout,” new analysis says.

Profit-taking is not hindering the overall bull market rebound.

Bitcoin (BTC) is setting new all-time highs in network value as BTC price action eyes a return to six figures.

Data from onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant confirms new record highs for Bitcoin’s realized cap.

Bitcoin realized cap reflects “growing conviction”

Bitcoin is worth more than ever in US dollar terms if its market cap is measured by the value at which the extant supply last moved onchain.

Known as realized cap, this figure has seen continued all-time highs since mid-April as BTC/USD stages a sustained recovery, and as of May 7 stood at $891 billion.

“Bitcoin has experienced a steady flow of capital inflows in recent weeks, reflecting renewed interest from investors,” CryptoQuant contributor Carmelo Alemán summarized in one of its “Quicktake” blog posts on May 7.

Alemán argued that the realized cap uptrend reflects a long-term market shift across the Bitcoin investor spectrum.

“This new all-time high in Realized Cap not only reflects a surge in invested capital but also a growing conviction in Bitcoin’s long-term potential as a financial asset,” the post concluded. 

“With sustained accumulation from both LTHs and STHs, the market appears to be building a solid foundation for a potentially significant price breakout. If this trend continues, we could be witnessing the early stages of a new bull cycle for Bitcoin.”Bitcoin realized cap. Source: CryptoQuant

BTC capital influx ongoing since 2023

As Cointelegraph reported, concerns remain over the fate of the current market rebound.

Related: BTC dominance due ‘collapse’ at 71%: 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

Misgivings over profit-taking in particular form grounds to suspect that higher prices may not last — both LTH and STH entities have seized the opportunity to lock in profits, with these averaging $1 billion daily.

In the latest edition of its regular newsletter, “The Week Onchain,” research firm Glassnode nonetheless argues that buy and sell-side conditions are balanced at around $100,000.

“A surge in profit taking can be observed in recent weeks, with the recent rally drawing in over $1B/day in net capital inflows,” it wrote. 

“This points to initial indicators of a return of demand-side strength, allowing sellers to lock in profits, and speaking to buyers willing to pick up coins at the current market price. Generally speaking, this points to a wave of demand which is absorbing the incoming supply.”Bitcoin net realized profit/loss (screenshot). Source: Glassnode

Glassnode added that the quest for profits has, in fact, extended for over 18 months.

“Notably, the market has sustained a profit-driven regime since October 2023, with capital inflows consistently exceeding outflows. This steady influx of fresh capital serves as an overall constructive signal,” it stated.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.