What is Paymaster?

A paymaster is a smart contract that sponsors gas fees for user transactions, enabling a gasless experience. Users can interact with DApps without ever holding the network's native token.

How does Paymaster work?

User prepares a "User Operation" specifying a paymaster to cover fees.
The paymaster validates the request against its own rules (subscription check, first-time user, ERC-20 balance).
If valid, the paymaster signals it will cover gas costs.
The transaction executes gas deducted from the paymaster's pre-deposited balance.

Why does Paymaster matter?

It removes the biggest onboarding hurdle needing gas tokens before doing anything. Apps can now offer Web2-like experiences where users never see a gas fee.

Key features of Paymaster

Sponsors gas fees on behalf of users
Supports paying fees in stablecoins
Custom sponsorship logic per application
Part of the EIP-4337 account abstraction framework

Examples of Paymaster

A Web3 game covers the first 10 transactions for new players. A DEX lets users pay gas with the same token they're swapping.

Visa has tested paymasters enabling credit card gas payments.