EIP-4758: Deactivate SELFDESTRUCT


  Ethereum Improvement Proposals
        
        
          
            
              
            
          
        

        AllCoreNetworkingInterfaceERCMetaInformational

      



      
        
  
    

  
    
      🚧 Stagnant
    
    
    
    
    
      Standards Track: Core
    
  
  
    
      EIP-4758: Deactivate SELFDESTRUCT
    
    
      
        
      
    
    
      
        
      
    
  

  Deactivate SELFDESTRUCT by changing it to SENDALL, which does recover all funds to the caller but does not delete any code or storage.

  	Authors	Guillaume Ballet (@gballet), Vitalik Buterin (@vbuterin), Dankrad Feist (@dankrad)
	Created	2022-02-03
	Discussion Link	https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/eip-4758-deactivate-selfdestruct/8710


  


  

  
    Table of Contents

    	Abstract
	Motivation
	Specification
	Rationale
	Backwards Compatibility
	Security Considerations
	Copyright



  


  
      
      
         Abstract
      
      
    


This EIP renames the SELFDESTRUCT opcode to SENDALL, and replaces its functionality. The new functionality will be only to send all Ether in the account to the caller.

  
    
      
      
         Motivation
      
      
    


The SELFDESTRUCT opcode requires large changes to the state of an account, in particular removing all code and storage. This will not be possible in the future with Verkle trees: Each account will be stored in many different account keys, which will not be obviously connected to the root account.


This EIP implements this change. Applications that only use SELFDESTRUCT to retrieve funds will still work.

  
    
      
      
         Specification
      
      
    


	The SELFDESTRUCT opcode is renamed to SENDALL, and now only immediately moves all ETH in the account to the target; it no longer destroys code or storage or alters the nonce
	All refunds related to SELFDESTRUCT are removed


  
    
      
      
         Rationale
      
      
    


Getting rid of the SELFDESTRUCT opcode has been considered in the past, and there are currently no strong reasons to use it. Disabling it will be a requirement for statelessness.

  
    
      
      
         Backwards Compatibility
      
      
    


This EIP requires a hard fork, since it modifies consensus rules.


Few applications are affected by this change. The only use that breaks is where a contract is re-created at the same address using CREATE2 (after a SELFDESTRUCT).

  
    
      
      
         Security Considerations
      
      
    


The following applications of SELFDESTRUCT will be broken and applications that use it in this way are not safe anymore:


	Any use where SELFDESTRUCT is used to burn non-ETH token balances, such as EIP-20), inside a contract. We do not know of any such use (since it can easily be done by sending to a burn address this seems an unlikely way to use SELFDESTRUCT)
	Where CREATE2 is used to redeploy a contract in the same place. There are two ways in which this can fail:
    	The destruction prevents the contract from being used outside of a certain context. For example, the contract allows anyone to withdraw funds, but SELFDESTRUCT is used at the end of an operation to prevent others from doing this. This type of operation can easily be modified to not depend on SELFDESTRUCT.
	The SELFDESTRUCT operation is used in order to make a contract upgradable. This is not supported anymore and delegates should be used.


  


  
    
      
      
         Copyright
      
      
    


Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.


  Citation

  Please cite this document as:

  
  Guillaume Ballet (@gballet), Vitalik Buterin (@vbuterin), Dankrad Feist (@dankrad), "EIP-4758: Deactivate SELFDESTRUCT [DRAFT]," Ethereum Improvement Proposals, no. 4758, February 2022. [Online serial]. Available: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4758.






      
    
  

  

    Ethereum Improvement Proposals


    
      
        	Ethereum Improvement Proposals


      


      	 ethereum/EIPs





      
        Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) describe standards for the Ethereum platform, including core protocol specifications, client APIs, and contract standards.