Author: Stacy Muur, Crypto Researcher

Editor's Note: The article summarizes over 2 million Gas-free transactions through the ERC-4337 smart wallet in 30 days, saving about $117,000 in Gas fees, showing the potential of Paymaster payment model to significantly enhance on-chain activity. However, a surge in transaction volume may mask real user demand, with one-time activities such as NFT minting and airdrops leading to short-term increase in wallet counts but low retention, while a few gaming, DeFi and infrastructure applications exhibit deeper reuse. Data shows that although Gas sponsorship can attract users, continuous participation depends on attractive applications. ERC-4337 has promoted the popularization of Gas-free transactions, but faces technical complexity and cost challenges. In the future, EIP-7702 is expected to further simplify and accelerate its adoption.

The following is the original content (the original content has been compiled for easy reading comprehension):

In just 30 days, 89 projects on 9 blockchains supported more than 2 million Gas-free transactions, saving up to $117,000 in Gas fees.

The wave of Gas-free transactions on multiple chains shows that solutions like Paymaster in ERC-4337 smart wallets can quickly boost on-chain activity.

Paymaster-driven use may mask real user needs

· A surge in transaction volume does not necessarily reflect the user's real interest, especially when a small number of wallets (such as traders, robots) repeatedly call contracts.

· One-time airdrop, free casting or collection activities may lead to a surge in the number of wallets in the short term, but subsequent usage is extremely low.

The number of new wallets for NFT, gaming and token projects has surged, but many are used only for one-time operations (such as minting or receiving rewards) rather than continuing participation.

On the other hand, a small number of applications demonstrate deeper and more repetitive use,Often driven by more attractive game loops, repetitive DeFi operations, or infrastructure-level services.

These findings suggest that ERC-4337 smart wallets are reshaping on-chain activities, demonstrating the power of Gas sponsorship to attract users, and highlighting the need for attractive, reusable applications to keep users engaged.

@0xKofi builds an authoritative dashboard to track this explosive growth, data provided by @base.

Key metrics

89 standalone applications/protocols

About 724,000 active smart wallets

About 117,000 Gas fees were waived

About 2,087,799 Gas transactions

ERC-4337 development

left;">The rapid growth of Gas trading is part of a larger trend. In 2024, the ERC-4337 account performed more than 103 million user operations (UserOps), more than 10 times that of 2023 (8.3 million). 87% of these transactions are paid by Paymaster, achieving a Gas-free experience.

From the monthly Paymaster Gas expenditure chart, we can see the following evolution:

Early Adoption (2023): There was very little spending before mid-2023, and Optimism led the initial adoption.

Growth phase (end 2023): By October 2023, monthly spending has steadily increased to about $400,000.

Spike Activity (April 2024): Spending surged to about $700,000, mainly driven by Base.

Recent Trends (end of 2024 to early 2025): Monthly Gas spending dropped sharply in early 2025 after reaching a new high (approximately $630,000) from November to December 2024, down to about $150,000 in February.

With Paymaster, apps and users spent more than $3.4 million on UserOp expenses, with major providers including @biconomy, @pimlicoHQ, @coinbase and @Alchemy. Despite the market contraction, overall spending in the first quarter of 2025 was down, @base (391,117 USD), @ethereum ($121,053) and @BNBCHAIN ​​(approximately USD 112,493) remain the dominant players.

Leading on-chain activities

Base (43.2%): Entertainment and Social Center-dominated gaming field (76.8%).

Polygon (21.4%): Community Engagement Layer-NFT (50.7%) and Telegram Wallet (42.3%).

Optimism (8.5%): Security-focused—emphasizing the restoration of infrastructure.

Celo (7.4%): Niche experts—predicting the market.

BSC (4.2%): Value transfer layer—focused on tokens, with the highest cost of Gas.

Data analysis

Until analytics, it is crucial to understand two key metrics:

left;">Tx/Wallet (number of transactions per wallet)——Measures the average number of transactions completed per wallet. Low values ​​(eg ~1.0) indicate one-time use (eg minting NFTs or claiming airdrops). High values ​​(eg ~25) indicate repeated participation (eg active transactions, games, or robot operations).

Cost/Tx (cost per transaction) – represents the average cost per transaction. In a Gas-free system, it reflects the fees waived for each transaction, not the fees paid by the user.

1.NFT Project: Large amounts of wallets usually = one-time account

Piggybox: → About 1 tx/wallet, ~$0.004/transaction.

Somon Badge: → Approximately 1.4 tx/wallet, ~$0.007/transaction.

Interpretation: The ratio of wallet to transaction 1:1 (Piggybox) strongly indicates that it is a casting or collection activity. Piggybox is an NFT obtained when registering EARN'M, plus a draw box that may receive EARNM tokens.

One-time surge: Many wallets make only one transaction (initial minting/collection) and no longer return afterward, thus approaching a perfect 1:1 ratio.

Ranking: Piggybox ranks at the top of the overall rankings due to the fact that many new wallets have been minted. But if you filter out the disposable wallet, it could fall from the top five, with extremely low retention rates.

2. Tokens: Token trading is concentrated in a few projects

There are 26 token items in the list, far exceeding other categories. Two of the tokens, $BVRP and $USDC, exceeded 667k transactions, accounting for most of the transaction volume.

$BVRP: → ~25 tx/wallet at $0.012/tx.

$USDC: → ~4.6 tx/wallet at $0.21/tx.

Interpretation:

This concentration indicates that not all "token" projects areThey are all equally active, but a few heavyweight projects have driven the total.

$BVRP shows high transaction activity relative to the number of wallets, indicating that these platforms have high user engagement and frequent automated or repeated transactions.

3. Game: a "hot product", but you need to pay attention to the wallet/transaction ratio

@SuperChampsHQ: → About 1.49 tx/wallet, ~$0.017/transaction.

@BLOCKLORDS: → About 42 tx/wallet, ~$0.009/transaction.

@miracleplay_cn: → About 14 tx/wallet, ~$0.012/transaction.

Interpretation:

Super Champs dominate the total game usage (463k vs. ~13k sum of other projects), but only about 1-2 transactions per wallet.

Blocklords There are fewer wallets, but the transaction rate per wallet is extremely high (~42). This is usually related to the repetitive operations of robots, as David Johansson of Blocklords said, “They are fighting robots.” 4. Bridges and plugins: Medium but stable usage, high gas costs

UniversalX: → About 4.4 tx/wallet, ~$0.55/transaction.

Safe4337Module: → Approximately 5.1 tx/wallet, ~$0.053/transaction.

Interpretation:

Background tools: Bridges and plugins do not have "headline" transaction volume like tokens or games, but they are due to multiple dApp dependenciesMaintain stable use.

Ecosystem health indicators: Medium usage of infrastructure services indicates their true utility, rather than a hype-driven surge.

5. Chain specialization is taking shape

@base: 99.5% of game wallet activities (310,934 of 312,361 wallets).

@0xPolygon: Dominates NFT/social activities (87% of ecosystem NFT wallets).

@BNBCHAIN: Leading in high-value bridge transactions (23.2% of all exempt Gas).

@Celo: Strong performance in the forecast market (25,574 wallets, 12.7 tx/wallet).

6. Cross-chain cost difference

The 100-fold cost difference between different chains drives specific application categories to set specific chains:

Ethereum: $2.41 per Gas transaction (up to the highest).

BSC: No Gas transaction per transaction $0.50.

Base: No Gas transaction per transaction $0.02 (lowest in the main chain).

Polygon: No Gas transaction per transaction $0.03. Argument: 100 times the cost structure difference between different chains will drive specific application categories toward specific chains, regardless of technical similarity. Games and social applications are economically unfeasible on high-cost chains.

Overall

NFT uses tens of thousands of wallets to mint at a time (such as Piggybox), but has extremely low reuse.

Infrastructure (bridge, plug-in) remains stable and medium transactionsVolume, usually cost higher per transaction (bridged) or stable behind the scenes (plug-in).

The difference in the number of transactions per wallet in all categories highlights the different usage patterns: some are highly repetitive, others are purely one-time operations.

Finally, the participation of a large number of projects is close to zero, indicating that free Gas alone is not enough to generate demand; dApps require real value propositions to retain users.

Summary

Account abstraction and Gas sponsorship can indeed increase transaction volume and user registration volume, but the real test is repeated participation. Combining wallet counts, exempt Gas fees and Gas-free volumes, the data highlights the centralized use in each category, usually only from one or two celebrity dApps or large-scale single-collection events. Projects like Piggybox show how wallets and transactions are close to 1:1 to push NFT projects to the top of the list, but can quickly fall after filtering out one-time accounts. Meanwhile, the bridging and plug-in solutions show a more stable, medium transaction volume, reflecting the real needs of the ecosystem rather than a brief hype.

ERC-4337 The role of smart wallet

All these trends—Gas-free gaming, seamless DeFi, chain specialization—are powered by ERC-4337 smart wallet.

Unlike traditional EOA (external owned account), smart wallets introduce automation, security and flexibility, significantly improving the user experience.

What is ERC-4337 Smart Wallet?

Smart Contract Wallet or Smart Wallet is a programmable Ethereum account that enhances the user experience with the following features:

Batch Transactions—A user can combine multiple operations (such as Approval + Exchange on DEX) into one transaction.

Gas Fee Abstraction—The user does not need to hold ETH to pay Gas Fee; fees can be paid by the sponsor or with other tokens.

Security—Users can authenticate through passwords, social recovery, or multi-factor authentication rather than using higher risk seed phrases.

None How does Gas transaction work?

When a user initiates a transaction, Paymaster (a special smart contract) can step in paying Gas fees or allow users to pay with any ERC-20 tokens they hold. This greatly lowers the entry barrier for new users and makes blockchain applications as seamless as Web2 applications.

But ERC-4337 also faces major adoption challenges, and the above retention issues may stem directly from the following key limitations:

Technical barriers: Complex components such as UserOperations, Bundlers, and EntryPoint contracts have a steep learning curve for ordinary users and developers.

Cost issue: While no Gas transactions are helpful to users, achieving a full stack can be expensive, and Bundler's profitability is unstable during Gas volatility.

Reliability issue: Network congestion can lead to transaction delays, and complex verification logic introduces potential security vulnerabilities.

User experience gap: Multi-chain fragmentation leads to inconsistent wallet experiences, hindering seamless cross-chain management.

Summary

Account abstraction and Gas sponsorship have successfully increased transaction volume and new wallet registrations, but the real challenge is continuous participation. Data shows:

Many dApps have seen a surge in one-time use (such as NFT casting, airdrops) rather than long-term retention.

A few projects drive most of the activity, while many others struggle to attract real users.

Bridges and infrastructure solutions show more stable usage, highlighting real utility rather than hype.

While ERC-4337 enables Gas-free transactions and improves user experience, its complexity and cost barriers limit mainstream adoption. EIP-7702 solves these problems by:

Allows EOA Conducting account abstraction: The core problem of ERC-4337 is to exclude EOA and require users to switch to smart contract wallets. EIP-7702By allowing EOA to temporarily adopt smart contract code to solve this problem, accessing features such as Gas sponsorship (pay fees with ERC-20 tokens) and bulk transactions (such as approving and spending ERC-20 tokens in one transaction).

Simplify complexity and cost: Allows EOA to temporarily adopt smart contract capabilities, reduces the need for permanent wallet contracts, reduces Gas overhead, and reduces dependence on EntryPoints or Bundlers.

Improving efficiency: Introducing transaction type 0x04 for batch EOA operations, providing a more streamlined alternative to UserOps from ERC-4337.

Simplify infrastructure: limit smart contract code to transaction execution, reducing dependence on alternative memory pools and Bundlers.

Enable developers: Integrate with ERC-4337 while providing flexible, low-friction upgrade paths.

ERC-4337 lays the foundation, but EIP-7702 will make smart wallets cheaper, simpler, and easier to access, accelerating the next wave of adoption of Web3.