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Gasless Transactions on EVM: How They Work

Biconomy provides gasless transaction capabilities through MEE (Modular Execution Environment). MEE implements all the functionality of ERC-4337 bundlers and paymasters, plus cross-chain orchestration, in a unified developer experience.
Gasless transactions allow users to interact with blockchain applications without holding native tokens (like ETH) to pay for gas fees. Instead, a third party—typically the application developer or a paymaster service—covers the gas costs.From the user’s perspective, the transaction appears “free,” dramatically improving onboarding and user experience.
Gasless transactions work through a mechanism called meta-transactions:
  1. User signs a message describing their intended action (not a transaction)
  2. Relayer receives the signed message
  3. Relayer submits an actual transaction to the blockchain, paying gas
  4. Smart contract verifies the user’s signature and executes the action
  5. Paymaster reimburses the relayer (in ERC-4337 model)
User Intent → Signed Message → Relayer → Blockchain
                                  ↓
                            Paymaster pays gas
With ERC-4337, this flow is standardized through UserOperations and Paymasters.
A Paymaster is a smart contract that sponsors gas fees for UserOperations. There are different types:
Paymaster TypeDescriptionUse Case
Verifying PaymasterSponsors based on off-chain verificationApp-specific sponsorship with policies
Token PaymasterAccepts ERC-20 tokens for gasLet users pay gas in USDC, DAI, etc.
Deposit PaymasterUses pre-deposited fundsEnterprise gas sponsorship
Biconomy’s MEE provides all paymaster functionality with additional capabilities like cross-chain gas abstraction—pay for gas on any chain using tokens from any other supported chain.
For Users:
  • ✅ No need to buy/hold ETH before using an app
  • ✅ Familiar Web2-like experience
  • ✅ Lower barrier to entry for new users
  • ✅ Can pay gas in stablecoins if preferred
For Developers:
  • ✅ 10x higher conversion rates on onboarding
  • ✅ Eliminate “buy ETH” support tickets
  • ✅ Control user acquisition costs (sponsor strategically)
  • ✅ Competitive advantage over apps requiring gas
For the Ecosystem:
  • ✅ Mass adoption becomes feasible
  • ✅ Mobile-first experiences possible
  • ✅ Web3 accessible to non-crypto natives
Biconomy provides gasless transactions through MEE (Modular Execution Environment):Option 1: AbstractJS SDK (Recommended)
import { createMeeClient, toMultichainNexusAccount } from "@biconomy/abstractjs";
import { base } from "viem/chains";

const account = await toMultichainNexusAccount({
  signer: userSigner,
  chains: [base]
});

const meeClient = await createMeeClient({ account });

// Get quote with sponsored gas
const quote = await meeClient.getQuote({
  instructions: [
    { calls: [{ to: contractAddress, data: encodedFunctionCall }] }
  ],
  feeToken: { address: "sponsored" } // Gasless!
});

// Execute - user pays nothing
const { hash } = await meeClient.executeQuote({ quote });
Option 2: Supertransaction API
curl -X POST "https://api.biconomy.io/v1/quote" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "sender": "0x...",
    "instructions": [...],
    "feeToken": {
      "address": "sponsored",
      "chainId": 1
    }
  }'
MEE handles all the complexity of ERC-4337 (bundlers, paymasters, UserOperations) plus cross-chain orchestration behind the scenes.
Yes! MEE supports flexible sponsorship policies configured in the Biconomy Dashboard:
  • Spending limits: Max gas per transaction and total spending cap
Configure these policies in your Biconomy Dashboard, and MEE enforces them automatically when processing transactions.
TermMeaning
GaslessUser pays nothing; sponsor covers 100% of gas
Gas AbstractionUser pays, but in a token of their choice (USDC, DAI, etc.)
Both are enabled by the same infrastructure (paymasters), just with different configurations. Gas abstraction is useful when you want users to pay but remove the friction of needing the native token.
// Gasless (sponsored)
feeToken: { address: "sponsored" }

// Gas abstraction (pay in USDC)
feeToken: { 
  address: "0xA0b86991c...", // USDC
  chainId: 1 
}
Yes, gasless transactions maintain the same security guarantees as regular transactions:
  • User signature required: Transactions still need the user’s cryptographic signature
  • Non-custodial: Sponsors never have access to user funds
  • On-chain verification: Smart contracts verify signatures before execution
  • No replay attacks: Nonces prevent transaction replay
The only difference is who pays for gas, not who controls the transaction.
Gasless transactions via ERC-4337 are supported on all major EVM chains:
  • Ethereum Mainnet
  • Arbitrum One & Nova
  • Optimism
  • Base
  • Polygon PoS & zkEVM
  • BNB Chain
  • Avalanche C-Chain
  • And 50+ more chains
See our supported chains for the complete list.

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Start building gasless apps

Build a Gasless App

Step-by-step implementation guide

Paymaster Setup

Configure gas sponsorship policies