A smart contract is stored in a contract account (also called a smart contract account) on blockchains like Ethereum.

Quick Scoop

  • Ethereum has two main account types:
    1. Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) – controlled by a private key, typically what you think of as a normal wallet.
2. Contract Accounts (Smart Contract Accounts) – controlled by on-chain code, with their own address, code, and storage.
  • When you deploy a smart contract:
    • The network creates a contract account at a new address.
    • The contract’s bytecode and state storage live inside this contract account on-chain.
  • EOAs:
    • Hold your keys and send transactions.
    • Can trigger smart contracts but do not store the contract itself.
  • Contract accounts:
    • Are where the smart contract actually resides.
    • Have no private key; their behavior is entirely defined by the contract code.

In one line: the type of account that stores and “is” a smart contract is the contract account / smart contract account , not a regular externally owned account.