Gasless Transaction

Gasless transactions, also called meta-transactions, are designed to reduce friction for users interacting with decentralized applications (dApps). The user signs a message off-chain, and a relayer submits it to the blockchain while paying the required gas. This is especially useful for onboarding new users, enhancing accessibility, and enabling smoother UX in Web3 products.

Gasless models are often used in:

• NFT minting platforms
• DeFi frontends
• Web3 wallets
• DAO voting mechanisms

🔑 Key Characteristics Include:

• User-friendly — no need to hold ETH, MATIC, or other native tokens to interact
• Relayer-based — a third party submits transactions and absorbs the gas cost
• Flexible incentives — relayers can be compensated in stablecoins, tokens, or via protocol emissions
• Improved onboarding — lowers the barrier to entry for non-technical users

🏛 Example 1: MetaMask’s Paymaster Flow

MetaMask supports building gasless dApps via its Paymaster pattern, where smart contracts sponsor user gas fees and enable seamless signing experiences.

🏛 Example 2: OpenZeppelin Gas Station Network (GSN)

GSN allows dApps to accept signed messages from users and cover the gas, enabling a true zero-token start for new wallets.

🏛 Example 3: LogX Network

A DeFi protocol that offers gasless swaps and order placement using relayer infrastructure and layer 2 networks.

📚 References

1. CPAY – What Are Gasless Transactions? A Deep Dive into How They Work and Why They Matter
2. DroomDroom – Gasless Trading Experiences: The Future Standard for DeFi Platforms
3. OpenZeppelin – Sending Gasless Transactions
4. MetaMask – How to Build a Gasless Dapp
5. Gate.io – What is a Gasless Transaction?

⚠️ Controversies & Misconceptions

• “Gasless means free” — someone still pays the fee, and it’s often the protocol or a sponsor
• “All chains support it” — not true; it depends on network architecture and relayer infrastructure
• “No risks involved” — relayer centralization and signature replay risks must be mitigated

🚀 Conclusion

Gasless transactions are key to simplifying user experience and improving onboarding in Web3. By removing the need for upfront gas, they expand accessibility and adoption — but implementation must be secure, sustainable, and well-incentivized.

Related Terms

• DeFi

  DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, refers to a financial ecosystem built on blockchain technology that operates without traditional intermediaries like banks or brokers. Instead, DeFi uses smart contracts on public blockchains—primarily Ethereum—to offer services such as lending, borrowing, trading, and earning interest.

• DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)

  A Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) is a community-led organization governed by smart contracts and token holders. DAOs operate without centralized leadership, enabling decentralized decision-making and resource allocation.

• DApp (Decentralized Application)

  A decentralized application (DApp) is an application that runs on a blockchain or peer-to-peer network without a central authority. DApps leverage smart contracts to facilitate trustless operations and decentralized governance.

• Stablecoin

  A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value by pegging its worth to a reserve of assets, such as fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, commodities like gold, or a basket of assets. This stability allows stablecoins to be widely used for transactions, trading, and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

• Gas Fees

  Gas fees are transaction fees paid to miners or validators on a blockchain to process and validate transactions. These fees compensate network participants for the computational resources required to execute transactions and smart contracts.