Modular Standards

Compare ERC-6900 and ERC-7579 for building smart wallet systems.

Modular standards define how smart accounts can be extended with plug-ins, permissions, and upgradeable logic. Two main proposals in the ecosystem are ERC-6900 and ERC-7579.

This page compares them from a developer perspective.

🖇️ What Is Modularity?

A modular smart account:

  • Delegates logic to external modules (e.g., signature validation, permission checks)

  • Enables upgrades or feature toggles without full redeployments

  • Improves auditability by isolating logic

💡 Modular accounts benefit from RIP-7712, which enables plugin-specific nonces and parallel execution lanes.

✳️ ERC-6900: Generalized Permission Graphs

  • Proposes a universal registry for modules and permissions

  • Emphasizes graph-based delegation (who can do what, on behalf of whom)

  • Enables fine-grained and reusable access control

Use case: protocol-governed wallets, DAOs, nested delegation

Pros:

  • Very flexible

  • Shared registry enables interoperability

  • Deep control over auth trees

Cons:

  • More complex to reason about

  • New mental model for devs unfamiliar with graphs

❇️ ERC-7579: Wallet-Centric Modules

  • Defines runtime module loading for smart accounts

  • Compatible with ERC-4337; enables session key enforcement via wallet-controlled module validation

  • Modules attach to wallets and expose specific interfaces

Use case: app-specific wallets, extensible UX, plugins

Pros:

  • Simple to integrate

  • Plug-and-play UX modules (e.g., multisig, rate limiting)

  • Deployed in production (Candide)

Cons:

  • Modules are not shared across wallets

  • Less granular permissioning than 6900

🌍 Ecosystem Adoption

For up-to-date information on ecosystem support and implementation of modular smart account standards, refer to the following official sources:

  • ERC-6900: Plugin-based modular account registry and validation

  • ERC-7579: Minimal modular interface layer for smart accounts

These pages track real-time contributions and adoption by wallet teams, infra providers, and AA tooling projects.

📚 Related Pages

✅ Summary

Both ERC-6900 and ERC-7579 push smart accounts toward a modular future. 6900 prioritizes permission graphs and registry-level reuse, while 7579 focuses on local extensibility and simple UX. Choose based on your app’s architecture and user control requirements.

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