By the Numbers: 89 Projects on 9 Blockchains Have Achieved More Than 2 Million Gas-Free Transactions

The article summarizes that within 30 days, 89 projects on 9 blockchains have achieved more than 2 million gas-free transactions through ERC-4337 smart wallets

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

This wave of gas-less transactions on multiple chains is powered by solutions like Paymaster’s fee payment in ERC-4337 smart wallets, which can quickly boost on-chain activity. But while the transaction volume is interesting, it may not necessarily reflect real user interest, especially when a small number of wallets (e.g. traders, bots) are calling the contract repeatedly.

For example, a one-off airdrop, free minting or claiming event may result in a short-term surge in the number of wallets, but with minimal subsequent usage.

On the other hand, a few games, DeFi and infrastructure applications show deeper, more varied activity with reuse of the same wallets over time.

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

This analysis focuses on the application category and provides an overview of the data and observations. Data is provided by Base and compiled by DeepSeek.

Key Metrics

ERC-4337 Development

The rapid growth of gas-free transactions is part of a larger trend. In 2024, ERC-4337 accounts performed more than 103 million UserOps, compared to 8.3 million in 2023. Of these transactions, 87% were paid by Paymaster, enabling a gas-free experience.

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

Apps and users spent more than $3.4 million on UserOp fees through Paymaster, with major providers including Biconomy, Pimlico, Coinbase and Alchemy. Despite a contracting market and a downward trend in overall spending in Q1 2025, Base, Ethereum and BNB CHAIN remained the dominant players.

Ranking by On-Chain Activity

Data analysis

Before diving into analyzing the data, it’s important to understand two key metrics:

1. NFT Projects: Large Number of Wallets Usually = One-Time Accounts

Interpretation: The 1:1 ratio of wallets to transactions (Piggybox) strongly indicates a minting or claiming activity. Piggybox is the NFT you get when you sign up for EARN'M, plus a lottery box that may receive EARNM tokens.

One-time surge: Many wallets only make one transaction (initial minting/claiming) and never go back, thus approaching a perfect 1:1 ratio.

Ranking: Piggybox is near the top of the overall rankings due to many new wallets being minted. But if you filter out one-time wallets, it would probably fall out of the top five, with extremely low retention rates.

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

There are 26 token projects in the list, far more than any other category. Two of them, $BVRP and $USDC, account for the majority of the trading volume with over 667k transactions.

Interpretation:

3. Games: A “hot item”, but the wallet/transaction ratio needs to be watched

Interpretation:

4. Bridges and plugins: moderate but stable usage, high gas cost

Interpretation:

5. Chain specialization is taking shape

6. Cross-chain cost differences

The 100x cost difference between different chains drives certain application categories to concentrate on specific chains:

Overall situation

Summarize

Account abstraction and gas sponsorship can indeed drive transaction volume and user registrations, but the true test is repeat engagement. Combining the number of wallets, waived gas fees, and gas-free transactions, the data highlights the phenomenon of concentrated usage in each category, often from just one or two star dApps or large-scale single-claim events. Projects like Piggybox show how a near 1:1 ratio of wallets to transactions can push NFT projects to the top of the charts, but can quickly fall after filtering out one-time accounts. Meanwhile, bridge and plugin solutions show more stable medium-level transaction volumes, reflecting real demand in the ecosystem rather than short-lived hype.

The role of ERC-4337 smart wallet

All of these trends — gas-free gaming, seamless DeFi, chain specialization — are driven by ERC-4337 smart wallets.

Unlike traditional EOA (Externally Owned Account), Smart Wallet introduces automation, security and flexibility, significantly improving the user experience.

What is ERC-4337 Smart Wallet?

A smart contract wallet or smart wallet is a programmable Ethereum account that enhances the user experience by:

Batch transactions — users can combine multiple operations (such as approve + swap on DEX) into