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.

What are gasless transactions?

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.

How do gasless transactions work technically?

Gasless transactions work through a mechanism called meta-transactions:

User signs a message describing their intended action (not a transaction)
Relayer receives the signed message
Relayer submits an actual transaction to the blockchain, paying gas
Smart contract verifies the user’s signature and executes the action
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.

What is a Paymaster in ERC-4337?

A Paymaster is a smart contract that sponsors gas fees for UserOperations. There are different types:

Paymaster Type	Description	Use Case
Verifying Paymaster	Sponsors based on off-chain verification	App-specific sponsorship with policies
Token Paymaster	Accepts ERC-20 tokens for gas	Let users pay gas in USDC, DAI, etc.
Deposit Paymaster	Uses pre-deposited funds	Enterprise 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.

What are the benefits of gasless transactions?

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

How do I implement gasless transactions with Biconomy?

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.

Can I set limits on gas sponsorship?

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.

What's the difference between gasless and gas abstraction?

Term	Meaning
Gasless	User pays nothing; sponsor covers 100% of gas
Gas Abstraction	User 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 
}

Are gasless transactions safe?

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.

Which EVM chains support gasless transactions?

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.

Start building gasless apps

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Step-by-step implementation guide

Paymaster Setup

Configure gas sponsorship policies

Concepts

How-To Guides

Gasless Transactions on EVM: How They Work

Gasless Transactions on EVM: How They Work

Start building gasless apps

Build a Gasless App

Paymaster Setup

​Gasless Transactions on EVM: How They Work

​Start building gasless apps

Build a Gasless App

Paymaster Setup

Gasless Transactions on EVM: How They Work

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