Paymasters

Gas is the classic onboarding blocker: a user with USDC still needs ETH before they can do anything on-chain. Paymasters solve this by sponsoring UserOperation fees — a third party deposits ETH into EntryPoint and agrees to cover gas when certain conditions are met.

dApps sponsor gas to remove friction during onboarding. Employers or DAOs can pay for member transactions. Payment processors may accept USDC from the user, swap internally, and settle ETH to EntryPoint — making the fee feel invisible even when someone ultimately pays.

Paymasters are smart contracts with their own trust assumptions. A malicious paymaster could censor operations or attach hidden conditions. Users should know who is paying and what data the paymaster sees before accepting sponsorship.