Gas Accounting Rules Every CTO Should Know

EIP-2929 made first-time storage access more expensive, but the gasleft() check for forwarding is based on the post-call gas. This creates a critical mismatch.

• Key Risk: A sub-call can consume more gas than its stipend, causing the parent call to revert.
• Key Mitigation: Use hardcoded gas limits for internal calls, never forward gasleft().

A CALL with value forwards a 2300 gas stipend for the recipient's logic. This is a hardcoded constant, not a measurement of actual opcode costs.

• Key Constraint: 2300 gas only covers ~7 SSTORE operations for a zero-to-non-zero write.
• Key Design: Any contract receiving ETH must have a receive() function with minimal, fixed-cost logic (e.g., a simple log).

Precompiled contracts (e.g., ecrecover, sha256) have fixed gas costs defined in the protocol. These costs are not dynamically adjusted for real-world hardware.

• Key Anomaly: Precompile costs can become economically irrational (e.g., sha256 is often cheaper to compute off-chain).
• Key Audit Point: Heavy use of modexp (modular exponentiation) in L2 sequencers can be a hidden cost center and DOS vector.

The Problem: Users hate managing gas tokens. The Solution: Decouple the 'who pays' from 'what is paid with'. Use Paymasters (like EIP-4337 Account Abstraction) for sponsorship and ERC-20s for payment.

• Key Benefit: Enable true gasless onboarding and enterprise-grade UX.
• Key Benefit: Isolate protocol logic from volatile native token economics.

The Problem: Static gas estimates fail during volatility. The Solution: Architect for Priority Gas Auctions (PGAs) and dynamic fee markets like EIP-1559. Use oracles (e.g., Chainlink Gas Station) for real-time estimates.

• Key Benefit: Guarantee transaction inclusion during high-demand periods.
• Key Benefit: Optimize cost by targeting base fee vs. priority tip trade-offs.

The Problem: Unbounded loops and storage writes cause out-of-gas reverts. The Solution: Implement internal gas metering. Use patterns like gas refunds for storage clearance and checkpoints for batch operations.

• Key Benefit: Predictable execution costs prevent protocol insolvency from failed txns.
• Key Benefit: Enables complex, multi-step intents (see: UniswapX, CowSwap) without user-side gas guessing.

The Problem: Users must hold gas tokens on every chain. The Solution: Adopt intent-based architectures and universal gas tokens. Leverage systems like LayerZero's Omnichain Fungible Tokens (OFT) and Circle's CCTP for native gas payment.

• Key Benefit: Single-asset liquidity management across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base.
• Key Benefit: Removes the bridging step for gas, a major UX failure point.

The Problem: L1 gas costs make micro-transactions impossible. The Solution: Design for L2s (e.g., Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync) as the primary execution layer. Use L1 only for final settlement and high-value assertions.

• Key Benefit: Reduce transaction costs by 100-1000x for end-users.
• Key Benefit: Enable new economic models (sub-cent fees, social apps).

The Problem: Unchecked storage growth permanently increases baseline gas costs for all users. The Solution: Treat state size as a critical KPI. Implement state rent proposals, periodic state roots, or forced migration paths.

• Key Benefit: Protect long-term chain viability and validator decentralization.
• Key Benefit: Avoid the 'Ethereum State Size' problem in your own protocol's design.