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How Ethereum works, how to connect, and core protocol and ecosystem concepts.

Externally owned vs contract accounts, and how to create and manage them.

Ethereum Accounts

Ethereum has two account types: externally owned accounts (EOAs, controlled by private keys) and contract accounts (controlled by code). Wallet addresses are EOAs.

EOAs can initiate transactions; contract accounts only run logic when called—they cannot initiate txs themselves.

Creating an account means generating a key pair: private key → public key → address. Seed phrases (12/24 words) backup the private key; lost = unrecoverable, leaked = drained.

Users often hold multiple addresses to isolate risk (trading, cold storage, DeFi). On-chain analysis clusters addresses to track entity behavior.

EIP-7702 (Pectra) lets EOAs temporarily load contract code, enabling batch txs and gas sponsorship—blurring the line between EOAs and contract accounts.