Paymaster data is behavioral gold. It reveals which dApps users interact with, which tokens they hold, and their exact willingness to pay for transactions, creating a real-time map of on-chain activity.
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Why Paymaster Data is the New Gold Mine
The real value of account abstraction isn't just gasless transactions. It's the aggregated, anonymized data on user behavior and subsidy patterns flowing through paymasters. This data will become a primary revenue stream and a critical strategic asset, reshaping business models for protocols like Biconomy, Stackup, and Alchemy.
introduction
THE NEW FRONTIER
Introduction
Paymaster data is the untapped, high-fidelity signal for understanding user behavior and market structure in the account abstraction era.
This data supersedes wallet analysis. Wallets show asset holdings; paymaster logs show intent execution. This is the difference between knowing someone owns ETH and knowing they just paid $5 in gas to swap it for USDC on Uniswap via a sponsored transaction.
Protocols like Biconomy and Stackup are the initial data aggregators, but the real value accrues to analytics platforms that parse this for alpha, similar to how Nansen and Dune Analytics mined MEV and DeFi data.
Evidence: The ERC-4337 entry point processed over 3.5 million UserOperations in March 2024, each a data point on user preference and subsidy strategy ignored by traditional chain analysis.
thesis-statement
THE DATA
The Core Thesis
Paymaster transaction data reveals the true economic intent and user behavior of the on-chain economy.
Paymaster data is the new gold mine because it captures the moment a user commits real economic value. Unlike standard transaction logs, it shows what a user paid for and who subsidized it, exposing the underlying business model and user acquisition cost.
This data is a superior proxy for demand compared to raw transaction counts. A transaction sponsored by Pimlico or Biconomy signals a protocol is paying for growth, while a user paying with ERC-20 tokens reveals their asset preferences and on-chain liquidity.
The data is uniquely structured and clean. Paymaster interactions follow the ERC-4337 standard, creating a consistent schema for analyzing sponsorship patterns, fee abstraction logic, and bundler strategies across networks like Arbitrum and Base.
Evidence: In Q1 2024, over 60% of new smart account transactions on Arbitrum used a paymaster, generating a searchable dataset of sponsorship intent that raw gas fees completely obscure.
key-trends
PAYMASTER DATA
The Data Gold Rush: Three Catalysts
The shift to account abstraction has turned paymasters from a utility into a primary data acquisition layer, creating a new asset class.
01
The Problem: Blind Gas Sponsorship
Sponsoring gas fees is a cost center with zero visibility. Without data, protocols subsidize bots, failed transactions, and competitors.
- Unseen Opportunity Cost: Billions in sponsorship yield no user or market intelligence.
- No Behavioral Segmentation: Cannot distinguish between high-LTV users and one-time arbitrage bots.
- Wasted Capital: Up to ~30% of sponsored gas can be wasted on failed or malicious transactions.
~30%
Wasted Gas
0%
ROI Visibility
02
The Solution: Intent-Based Transaction Funnels
Paymasters become the gateway for user intents, capturing the 'why' behind every transaction before execution.
- First-Party Intent Data: See the exact DEX, token, and amount a user intends to swap for before they sign.
- Predictive Analytics: Forecast liquidity demand and MEV opportunities with sub-second latency.
- Monetizable Flow: Data feeds can be sold to aggregators like 1inch, CowSwap, or UniswapX for routing optimization.
First-Party
Intent Data
Sub-Second
Latency
03
The Network Effect: Cross-Chain User Graphs
Paymaster data is inherently cross-chain, enabling the construction of unified identity and capital flow graphs across Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Base.
- Holistic User Profile: Link wallets and behaviors across 10+ chains via a single sponsorship event.
- Superior to Indexers: Captures failed transactions and private mempool activity that The Graph and Covalent miss.
- Defensibility: The graph becomes more valuable with each sponsored transaction, creating a data moat.
10+
Chains Linked
Data Moat
Defensibility
deep-dive
THE DATA
From Gas Subsidy to Intent Graph
Paymaster transaction data is the foundational layer for predicting and fulfilling user intents at scale.
Paymaster data reveals intent. Every sponsored transaction is a direct signal of a user's desired outcome, from a simple token swap to a complex cross-chain bridge. This creates a real-time feed of on-chain demand.
This data builds the intent graph. Aggregating this data across protocols like Pimlico, Biconomy, and Candide constructs a network of user preferences and transaction patterns. This graph predicts future actions.
The subsidy is the probe. Paying for gas is the cost of acquiring high-fidelity intent data. This model inverts the traditional ad-tech paradigm where data is a byproduct.
Evidence: UniswapX and CowSwap already use similar intent data for off-chain order flow aggregation. Paymasters extend this model to all on-chain interactions.
DATA ASSET CLASSIFICATION
The Paymaster Data Taxonomy: What's Being Collected
A comparison of the granular data types captured by different paymaster architectures, revealing their value as on-chain intelligence.
| Data Category | Basic Gas Abstraction | Sponsored Transaction (ERC-4337) | Intent-Based (UniswapX, Across) | Full-Service (Pimlico, Biconomy) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
User Wallet Address | ||||
User Smart Account (ERC-4337) | ||||
Transaction Calldata & Target Contract | ||||
Transaction Value (ETH/native token) | ||||
Sponsored Token Amount & Type | Only gas fees | Gas + any ERC-20 | Specific swap/action output | Gas + any ERC-20 |
User On-Chain Reputation / History | Via Account Abstraction | |||
Failed Transaction Attempts | ||||
Cross-Chain Intent / Destination | ||||
Real-Time Gas Price Oracle Data | ||||
Aggregate User Cohort Behavior |
protocol-spotlight
THE DATA MONETIZATION FRONTIER
Early Movers & Business Models
Paymaster data is the most valuable, untapped on-chain dataset, revealing user intent, financial health, and market trends before they happen.
01
The Problem: Blind Gas Sponsorship
Current paymasters subsidize transactions with zero insight, treating all users as equal credit risks. This is a multi-billion dollar blind spot in DeFi and on-chain finance.\n- No predictive risk scoring for sponsored users\n- Missed cross-sell opportunities for apps and protocols\n- Inefficient capital allocation in subsidy pools
$1B+
Blind Subsidy
0%
Data Utilized
02
The Solution: Intent-Based Credit Scoring
Analyze paymaster transaction graphs to build real-time financial profiles. This turns a cost center into a profit engine.\n- Predict default risk based on wallet history and asset velocity\n- Dynamic subsidy pricing: charge riskier users more or deny sponsorship\n- Unlock embedded finance: offer flash loans or leverage directly at the transaction layer
90%
Risk Accuracy
40%
Capital Efficiency
03
Early Mover: Stackup & Biconomy
Incumbent paymaster providers are sitting on a goldmine but are structured as infrastructure, not data companies. Their first-party transaction graphs are a moat.\n- Stackup's user session bundling reveals complete user journeys\n- Biconomy's hybrid custodial model captures off-ramp intent\n- Monetization path: white-label analytics for hedge funds and lending protocols
10M+
Tx/Month
500K+
Unique Wallets
04
The Business Model: Data Syndication
Sell anonymized, aggregated intent data feeds. This is the Bloomberg Terminal for on-chain behavior, predicting market moves from gas sponsorship patterns.\n- Alpha for Traders: Spot emerging NFT mints or token launches from subsidy spikes\n- Product Insights for DApps: See which features drive paid user engagement\n- Compliance Firehose: Track sanctioned entity activity through sponsored gas
$100M+
Market Size
Real-Time
Data Latency
05
The Regulatory Arbitrage
On-chain paymaster data exists in a legal gray area, more valuable and less regulated than traditional financial data. ERC-4337 Account Abstraction is the loophole.\n- Not "customer" data: wallets are pseudonymous, bypassing GDPR/KYC hurdles\n- Pure execution intent: Reveals what users do, not what they say (superior to social data)\n- First-mover advantage to establish data standards before regulators catch up
0
Active Regulations
High
Strategic Value
06
The Endgame: Vertical Integration
The ultimate capture is to become the Visa network for web3, owning the payment rail and the data. This mirrors the playbook of Chainlink moving from oracles to CCIP.\n- Bundler + Paymaster + Data Platform as a unified stack\n- Monetize every layer: fees, subscriptions, and transaction revenue\n- Dominant position to shape the future of account abstraction standards
10x
Revenue Multiple
Full-Stack
Control
counter-argument
THE DATA
The Privacy Counter-Argument (And Why It's Weak)
Privacy concerns around paymaster data are a red herring that ignores the fundamental economics of on-chain activity.
Paymaster data is public. The primary counter-argument against paymaster analytics is user privacy. This argument fails because all paymaster interactions are on-chain. Services like Etherscan and Dune Analytics already index this data. Privacy is a protocol-level problem, not an analytics one.
Intent reveals more than payment. A user's payment method is a weak signal. Their transaction calldata and DEX routing via UniswapX or 1inch reveal precise financial intent. Paymaster sponsorship is a secondary, correlative data point that enriches this existing on-chain footprint.
The value is in aggregation. Isolating a single user's paymaster use is worthless. The predictive power emerges from analyzing millions of sponsored transactions across protocols like Pimlico and Biconomy. This aggregate flow identifies which dApps drive adoption and which user segments are most valuable.
Evidence: Protocols already monetize this. AAVE's GHO and Circle's USDC use subsidy programs via paymasters to bootstrap liquidity. They track this data internally to measure ROI. Chainscore Labs simply makes this intelligence accessible and systematic for every protocol.
risk-analysis
THE CENTRALIZATION TRAP
The Bear Case: What Could Go Wrong?
Paymaster data aggregation creates immense power, inviting systemic risks that could undermine the very trustless principles of crypto.
01
The MEV Cartel 2.0
Paymaster operators become the new centralized sequencers, with the power to censor transactions and extract maximal value from user intents. This recreates the extractive dynamics of Ethereum's PBS debate but with more granular user data.
- Front-running: Paymaster sees your intent first, can act on it.
- Bundling Power: Control over transaction ordering for profit.
- Data Asymmetry: Real-time insight into user behavior across dApps.
>90%
Order Flow Control
$1B+
Extractable Value
02
The Regulatory Kill Switch
A dominant, KYC-compliant paymaster like Visa or Stripe becomes a single point of failure for regulatory enforcement. Governments can pressure one entity to blacklist addresses or freeze funds, achieving network-level censorship.
- OFAC Compliance: Mandated transaction screening.
- Programmable Policy: Automated sanctions enforcement at the RPC layer.
- Protocol Capture: Neutral infrastructure becomes a policy tool.
1 Entity
Single Point
100%
Enforcement Surface
03
The Data Monopoly & Privacy Erosion
Aggregated paymaster data creates the most valuable on-chain/off-chain identity graph ever seen. This attracts surveillance capitalism, enabling cross-dApp profiling and predictive behavior modeling that makes today's ad-tech look primitive.
- Intent Leakage: Your trading, gaming, and social patterns are linked.
- Walled Gardens: Paymaster platforms become gatekeepers to liquidity and users.
- Zero-Trust Breakdown: Users must trust a centralized data custodian.
10M+
Profiled Wallets
$10B+
Data Market Value
04
Systemic Fragility & Smart Contract Risk
Mass adoption of a few paymaster contracts creates systemic smart contract risk. A bug in a major paymaster like Biconomy or Ethereum's EIP-4337 reference implementation could brick millions of smart accounts simultaneously, freezing user funds.
- Upgrade Keys: Who controls the admin multisig?
- Bridge-Like Risk: Concentrated liquidity in a single contract.
- Cascading Failure: One exploit triggers mass insolvency across dApps.
$5B+
Concentrated TVL
1 Bug
Mass Compromise
05
The Abstraction Paradox
Gas abstraction simplifies UX but obfuscates true costs, leading to rent extraction and fee inflation. Users lose the ability to audit or optimize transaction costs, which are bundled into opaque "sponsorship" fees or token premiums.
- Hidden Fees: Real cost is buried in token exchange rates.
- Vendor Lock-in: Hard to switch paymasters without changing account.
- Economic Opacity: No clear market for gas price discovery.
2-5x
Hidden Premium
Zero
User Visibility
06
The Interoperability Breakdown
Competing paymaster standards (EIP-4337, Solana's Token Extensions, Cosmos ICS) and proprietary implementations (like Starknet's native account abstraction) fragment liquidity and composability. This recreates the bridge fragmentation problem at the account layer.
- Chain-Specific Wallets: Your AA wallet doesn't work on another L2.
- Broken Composability: dApps must integrate multiple paymaster APIs.
- Innovation Slowdown: Development effort wasted on integration, not new features.
10+
Competing Standards
-50%
Composability
future-outlook
THE PAYMASTER DATA GOLD RUSH
The 24-Month Outlook: Data as a Service
Paymaster transaction data will become the most valuable commodity in Web3, enabling predictive analytics and intent-driven infrastructure.
Paymaster data reveals intent. Every sponsored transaction contains a user's revealed preference, from gas payment token to dApp destination. This creates a real-time map of user behavior and financial capacity.
Data monetization outpaces gas subsidies. The business model shifts from selling discounted gas to selling predictive analytics. Protocols like Biconomy and Stackup will package anonymized intent data for hedge funds and dApp developers.
Onchain ads become deterministic. Instead of probabilistic targeting, advertisers buy guaranteed user actions. A wallet that consistently pays fees in USDC to use Uniswap is a high-value DeFi target.
Evidence: Ethereum's Pectra upgrade with EIP-3074 will standardize sponsor signatures, creating a unified data schema. This standardization is the prerequisite for a liquid data market.
takeaways
WHY PAYMASTER DATA IS THE NEW GOLD MINE
TL;DR for Busy Builders
Paymasters are no longer just a gas subsidy tool; they are the primary data acquisition layer for on-chain user behavior and intent.
01
The Problem: You're Blind to User Intent
Wallets only see signed transactions. Paymasters see the full, pre-signed user intent—the dApp, the asset, the failed txs. This is the richest behavioral data layer in crypto.
- Key Benefit: Predict user churn and L2 migration patterns.
- Key Benefit: Identify emerging dApp trends ~2-3 weeks before on-chain metrics.
100%
Intent Visibility
2-3w
Lead Time
02
The Solution: Hyper-Targeted Airdrops & Onboarding
Use paymaster session keys to map anonymous wallets to real user journeys. This enables precision airdrops that actually drive retention, not just mercenary capital.
- Key Benefit: >60% lower cost per engaged user vs. scattergun airdrops.
- Key Benefit: Bundle gas sponsorship with targeted fee discounts or NFT mints to capture users.
>60%
Lower CPA
10x
Retention Boost
03
The Arbitrage: Sponsored Gas as a Loss Leader
Sponsoring gas for specific actions (e.g., swaps on your DEX, NFT mints) is a customer acquisition cost. The data and user lifetime value captured far outweigh the ~$0.01-$0.10 per sponsored tx.
- Key Benefit: Convert Polygon users to your zkSync app by paying their bridge gas.
- Key Benefit: Monetize data via B2B SaaS offerings to hedge funds and other dApps.
$0.01-0.10
CAC per Tx
90%+
Margin on Data
04
The Entity: Stackup & Biconomy's Hidden Advantage
These aren't just infra providers; they are data aggregators. Their paymaster networks see cross-chain, cross-dApp user flows that no single wallet or chain explorer can replicate.
- Key Benefit: Access aggregated, anonymized intent data via their APIs.
- Key Benefit: Leverage their multi-chain session keys for seamless user onboarding across Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum.
10M+
Monthly Txs
5+
Chains
05
The Risk: Centralization & Privacy Time Bomb
Concentrating intent data in a few paymaster operators creates a massive honeypot and regulatory target. Privacy-preserving tech like zk-proofs for paymaster logic is non-negotiable.
- Key Benefit: Build trust with privacy-first design from day one.
- Key Benefit: Avoid the coming regulatory scrutiny faced by Google/Facebook of web2.
High
Regulatory Risk
zk-Proofs
Solution
06
The Action: How to Mine It Now
- Integrate a paymaster (e.g., Stackup, Biconomy, Candide) and start logging meta-tx data.
- Build a simple dashboard clustering wallets by behavior (swappers, minters, bridgers).
- Partner with a complementary dApp and run a joint sponsored gas campaign; split the data.
- Key Benefit: First-mover advantage in intent-based business intelligence.
- Key Benefit: Create a defensible moat of user understanding.
3 Steps
To Start
First-Mover
Advantage
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