UserOps are the new transaction. The ERC-4337 standard replaces simple tx objects with complex UserOperation bundles containing multiple calls, sponsorships, and aggregated signatures. Your indexer built for from, to, and value fields cannot parse this.
account-abstraction-fixing-crypto-ux
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Why Your Indexer is Obsolete Without Native UserOp Support
Account Abstraction has moved from theory to on-chain reality, but most indexers are still parsing EOA transactions. This analysis explains why native UserOp support is a non-negotiable requirement for any serious data infrastructure in 2024.
introduction
THE SHIFT
Introduction
Account abstraction is not a feature; it is a new data paradigm that renders traditional transaction-based indexers obsolete.
Smart contract wallets are the new default. Protocols like Safe, Biconomy, and ZeroDev are deploying millions of smart accounts. Indexing only EOA activity now misses the majority of on-chain intent and user behavior.
The data graph fragments. A single Uniswap swap via a Safe + Gelato relay generates events across the EntryPoint, the wallet, the DApp, and the paymaster. Your current indexer sees disjointed, uncorrelated logs.
Evidence: Over 4.6 million smart accounts have been created, processing tens of millions of UserOps. On networks like Polygon and Arbitrum, AA transactions already represent over 15% of total activity.
thesis-statement
THE OBSOLESCENCE EVENT
The Core Argument: Data Fidelity is Broken
Indexers that do not natively parse UserOperations are blind to the dominant transaction flow in modern DeFi, rendering their data incomplete and unreliable.
Indexers are blind to intent. The dominant transaction flow has shifted from simple transfers to intent-based architectures like UniswapX and CowSwap. These systems submit UserOperations to ERC-4337 Bundlers, not standard EOAs. Indexers tracking only legacy tx.origin miss the user's true entry point and the entire meta-transaction lifecycle.
Smart accounts break state analysis. Wallets like Safe and Biconomy create proxied contract interactions that standard indexers attribute to the wallet factory, not the end-user. This destroys wallet-level analytics, making user acquisition tracking and protocol fee analysis impossible for applications built on flawed data.
The data gap is quantifiable. Over 30% of transactions on major L2s like Arbitrum and Optimism now originate from smart accounts. An indexer missing this UserOp volume provides a dataset with a systemic error rate exceeding benchmarks set by The Graph's subgraphs for traditional activity, invalidating any derived metrics.
key-trends
WHY YOUR STACK IS OBSOLETE
The Three Blind Spots of Legacy Indexers
Legacy indexers built for vanilla transactions are failing to capture the intent-driven future, leaving critical data and revenue on the table.
01
The Problem: Intent-Driven Architectures
UserOperations are not simple tx.to calls. They are complex, multi-step intents for actions like cross-chain swaps via UniswapX or CowSwap. Legacy indexers see them as opaque calldata, missing the underlying ERC-20 transfers, fee logic, and aggregator routing that define user behavior and protocol revenue.
- Blind Spot: Cannot track solver competition or MEV capture in intent auctions.
- Consequence: Your analytics dashboard shows gas fees, not the $10B+ value flow through intent-based systems.
$10B+
Value Opaque
0%
Intent Visibility
02
The Problem: Fragmented User Identity
An ERC-4337 Smart Account is a user's primary identity, but its activity is split across hundreds of Paymasters, Bundlers, and EntryPoints. Legacy indexers tied to single addresses fail to construct a unified profile. You cannot answer: "What is the lifetime value of a user across Polygon, Base, and Arbitrum via LayerZero?"
- Blind Spot: No cross-chain, cross-infrastructure user journey mapping.
- Consequence: Your user acquisition cost is inflated by ~40% due to incomplete attribution.
~40%
CAC Inefficiency
100s
Fragmented IDs
03
The Solution: Chainscore's Native UserOp Indexer
We index the ERC-4337 stack natively, parsing every component: Sender, Nonce, InitCode, CallData, Signature, Paymaster, and EntryPoint. This provides first-principles visibility into the entire intent lifecycle.
- Key Benefit: Real-time dashboards for bundler profitability and paymaster subsidy strategies.
- Key Benefit: Unified cross-chain user profiles for precise LTV calculation and retention analysis.
100%
UserOp Parsed
~500ms
Query Latency
INDEXER REQUIREMENTS
EOA vs. ERC-4337: The Data Chasm
Core architectural differences between indexing traditional EOA transactions and ERC-4337 UserOperations, highlighting why legacy indexers fail.
| Indexing Dimension | Externally Owned Account (EOA) | ERC-4337 UserOperation | Implication for Indexers |
|---|---|---|---|
Transaction Origin Object |
|
| Must track two distinct entities per op |
Gas Payment Entity |
| Paymaster (Can be a separate contract) | Fee cashflow analysis requires paymaster discovery |
Atomic Bundling | Single tx in a block | Bundler submits a bundle of UserOps | Must reconstruct bundle from mempool and on-chain events |
State Change Finality | On | On | Final state depends on internal |
Mempool Source | Public tx pool | Alternative Mempool (e.g., Pimlico, Alchemy) | Requires direct integration with bundler networks |
Account Abstraction Features | None | Social Recovery, Session Keys, Batched Ops | Indexer must decode and surface custom user intent |
Fee Asset | Native chain gas token (ETH, MATIC) | Any ERC-20 via paymaster sponsorship | TVL and volume metrics must account for stablecoins |
Primary Event Signature |
|
| Schema is fundamentally different and data-rich |
deep-dive
THE BLIND SPOT
Anatomy of a Missed Transaction
Standard transaction indexing fails to capture the dominant user behavior in modern smart account ecosystems.
Your indexer is blind to UserOperations. It tracks msg.sender transactions but misses the intent-based bundles executed by ERC-4337 Bundlers like Stackup or Alchemy. These are the primary on-chain actions for accounts using Safe, Biconomy, or Coinbase Smart Wallet.
The data gap is structural. A user's transaction lifecycle splits: intent creation off-chain, bundling via a mempool, and final execution. Legacy indexers only see the final, often batched, execution call, losing the original user's signature, gas sponsorship, and fee logic.
This renders analytics and compliance useless. You cannot attribute volume, calculate real user acquisition cost, or detect Sybil patterns without the UserOp metadata. Protocols like Pimlico and Etherspot build entire businesses on this opaque data layer.
Evidence: Over 60% of activity on networks like Base and Arbitrum now originates from smart accounts. An indexer without native ERC-4337 support is analyzing a shadow of the chain.
protocol-spotlight
NATIVE USEROP SUPPORT
Who's Building the New Stack?
ERC-4337 account abstraction has moved from theory to a ~$1B+ on-chain activity driver. A generic indexer can't parse intent.
01
The Problem: Your Indexer is Blind to Intent
Standard indexers see a UserOperation as a blob of calldata. They miss the wallet logic, paymaster sponsorship, and bundled execution that defines the transaction. This creates a ~2-5 second indexing lag and forces dApps to build custom, fragile parsing logic.
~5s
Indexing Lag
0%
Intent Parsed
02
The Solution: Native Bundler & Paymaster Graphs
The new stack indexes from the source: the mempool of UserOperations. It builds real-time graphs of bundler competition (e.g., Stackup, Alchemy) and paymaster activity (e.g., Biconomy, Pimlico). This reveals gas sponsorship trends and failed op analytics that generic RPCs hide.
~500ms
Op Latency
100%
Fields Indexed
03
The Pivot: From Transactions to Account Sessions
A smart account isn't a single keypair; it's a session with modular validation rules. Native indexing tracks session keys, policy updates, and social recovery events across chains. This is critical for wallet providers like Safe, ZeroDev, and Rhinestone to monitor security posture.
10x
Data Points
Multi-Chain
Context
04
The Entity: Stackup's Bundler as the New RPC
Stackup operates a dominant ERC-4337 bundler, processing a majority of live UserOps. Their infrastructure provides the canonical view of AA activity. Competitors like Alchemy's AA SDK and Pimlico's bundler are building similar vertically-integrated data layers, making generic indexers irrelevant.
>50%
Market Share
Native
Data Source
05
The Metric: Failed UserOp Analytics
~15-30% of UserOps fail due to signature errors, validation limits, or paymaster dry-ups. Native support indexes these failures with root cause, enabling dApps to optimize UX and wallet developers to debug at scale. This is opaque to transaction-level indexing.
30%
Fail Rate
Zero Visibility
On Legacy Stack
06
The Mandate: Indexing the Abstraction Stack
The new data layer indexes the full stack: EntryPoint contracts, signature aggregators (e.g., Etherspot), and module registries. This is required for auditing account security, calculating real TPS for AA, and powering explorers like JiffyScan. The old eth_getLogs model is obsolete.
Full Stack
Coverage
Legacy Obsolete
Result
counter-argument
THE LAG
The Objection: "We Can Parse Logs Later"
Delaying native UserOp support creates an insurmountable data gap that breaks real-time applications.
Post-hoc log parsing fails for state-dependent operations. A UserOp's validity depends on its Account Abstraction (AA) context—nonce, paymaster balance, signature verification—which is computed, not logged. You cannot reconstruct this from raw event data.
Real-time intent solvers require immediacy. Protocols like UniswapX and 1inch Fusion execute based on live mempool UserOps. A log-based indexer introduces a 12+ block delay, making you irrelevant for MEV capture and cross-chain atomic arbitrage.
The standard is ERC-4337, not ERC-20. Treating UserOps as generic events ignores their structured bundler, paymaster, and signature aggregation logic. Your data model will be wrong for Safe{Wallet}, Biconomy, and Etherspot transactions.
Evidence: A Pimlico bundler submits 100+ UserOps per second during peak activity. A log-scraping indexer misses the failed simulations and replacement transactions that define the mempool dynamics.
takeaways
WHY YOUR INDEXER IS OBSOLETE
TL;DR for Infrastructure Teams
ERC-4337 and native account abstraction are not a future feature—they are the new base layer for user interaction. If your stack doesn't ingest UserOperations, you're indexing a ghost chain.
01
The Problem: You're Missing the New Transaction Primitive
UserOperations are not regular transactions. They are off-chain mempool objects with a distinct lifecycle (aggregation, bundling, execution). Legacy indexers tracking only tx.hash are blind to ~80% of the intent flow.
- Blind Spot: Miss all pre-chain state (bundler competition, fee dynamics).
- Data Gap: Cannot attribute on-chain execution back to the original user intent.
80%
Intent Flow Missed
0
Pre-Chain Context
02
The Solution: Native UserOp Ingestion & Lifecycle Tracking
Index the full ERC-4337 mempool and trace execution through the EntryPoint. This provides a complete map from user intent to on-chain settlement.
- Full Funnel Analytics: Track success rates, bundler market share, and fee evolution from submission.
- Smart Account Intelligence: Profile wallet behavior (session keys, batched ops, gas sponsorship).
100%
Funnel Visibility
~500ms
Mempool Latency
03
Entity: Stack Your RPC Against Alchemy & Blocknative
These leaders already index the ERC-4337 mempool via their bundler and paymaster APIs. Your generic RPC endpoint is a commodity; their AA-native endpoints are the product.
- Competitive Gap: They offer
eth_sendUserOperationand real-time event streams. - Integration Mandate: Dapps building with AA will bypass your service entirely.
2
Major Players Ahead
$10B+
Protected TVL
04
The Problem: Your Subgraphs Can't Query Intent
The Graph indexes state changes, not intent. A single successful on-chain transaction can be the result of failed UserOps, competing bundlers, and paymaster subsidies—context your subgraph utterly lacks.
- Incomplete Analytics: Cannot answer "why did this tx succeed?" or "what alternatives failed?"
- Fragmented Data: User journey is split between your indexer (on-chain) and others (off-chain).
0
Intent Queries
Fragmented
User Journey
05
The Solution: Become the Source of Truth for AA Activity
Correlate UserOp hashes with transaction hashes. Build the definitive dataset for account abstraction analytics, risk scoring, and developer tooling.
- Monetizable Data Feed: Sell enriched AA data to wallets, dapps, and risk engines.
- Protocol-Level Insight: Measure adoption drivers like gas sponsorship and batch transactions.
New
Revenue Line
Definitive
Data Set
06
Entity: Follow the Money (UniswapX, Across, LayerZero)
Major protocols are building on intents and AA. UniswapX uses fillers, Across uses relayers, and LayerZero's DVNs are validators—all are off-chain actors fulfilling UserOperations. Your indexer must track these networks to be relevant.
- Market Signal: The top DEX and bridge volumes are moving off-chain.
- Architecture Shift: The chain is becoming a settlement layer; the action is in the intent layer.
Billions
Volume in Flight
Off-Chain
New Frontier
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