The Future of User Acquisition: Paying for Gas as a Growth Lever

Gas sponsorship is the new airdrop. Protocols like Base and zkSync use gasless onboarding to subsidize user acquisition, converting a technical friction point into a direct growth lever.

The subsidy model is unsustainable. Direct gas payment drains treasuries linearly with usage, unlike the fixed-cost efficiency of traditional referral or ad campaigns.

Intent-based architectures solve this. Frameworks like UniswapX and Across enable batch settlement and MEV capture, allowing protocols to monetize flow and offset subsidy costs.

Evidence: Arbitrum's $130M+ in sequencer revenue demonstrates the latent value in transaction flow, which intent-based gas abstraction will unlock for user-facing applications.

Airdrops are a broken model. They attract mercenary capital, not users, creating a negative-sum game for the protocol treasury. The post-airdrop sell pressure destroys token value and leaves no sustainable user base.

On-chain CAC is the solution. Protocols must treat gas sponsorship as a core growth lever. This moves acquisition costs from a treasury drain to a protocol-native utility, directly funding real user activity.

Account abstraction enables this shift. Tools like EIP-4337 and ERC-4337 allow for sponsored transactions and session keys. Users interact without holding native tokens, removing the primary onboarding friction.

The data proves the model. Base's Onchain Summer and Starknet's fee waivers demonstrated that subsidized gas drives a 10x increase in genuine user transactions compared to airdrop farming patterns.

Gas sponsorship is a direct CAC play. Protocols pay for user transactions to eliminate the primary friction of onboarding, converting a speculative user into an active one with a single sponsored interaction, unlike traditional airdrops which often fail to drive sustained usage.

The mechanism is a programmable subsidy. Smart contracts like ERC-4337 Account Abstraction and relayers (e.g., Biconomy, Gelato) enable dApps to sponsor gas for specific actions, creating targeted funnels for high-value actions like minting an NFT or swapping on a new DEX.

This creates a measurable growth loop. Sponsorship cost per user is a clear metric; conversion from sponsored tx to a second, self-funded tx defines LTV. This data-driven model outperforms vague marketing spends on influencers or generic ads.

Evidence: After implementing gasless transactions via Biconomy, Polygon's adoption spiked; dApps like Quickswap saw user onboarding time drop from minutes to seconds, directly increasing wallet activation rates.

Gas subsidies are a marketing expense. Protocols like zkSync Era and Arbitrum have spent millions on gas rebates to bootstrap liquidity and users, treating transaction fees as a customer acquisition cost. This strategy works for initial traction but creates no long-term moat.

The subsidy model is a race to the bottom. When Polygon and Optimism compete on fee grants, they commoditize their own infrastructure. Users become mercenaries, chasing the next free transaction, which erodes brand loyalty and protocol revenue.

Sustainable models require embedded value capture. Successful chains like Solana and Avalanche subsidize early on but pivot to native applications that generate fees. The endgame is not cheap gas, but a fee-generating ecosystem that funds its own growth.

Evidence: Layer 2 networks have collectively subsidized over $50M in user gas fees. The Arbitrum Odyssey campaign, which offered NFTs for on-chain activity, congested the network and was paused, demonstrating the fragility of pure incentive-driven growth.

Gas abstraction becomes the primary growth lever for wallet acquisition. The winning strategy is not better UI, but paying for user transactions. This shifts competition from features to capital efficiency, where the deepest treasury wins the most users.

Sponsored transactions are the new user onboarding standard. Protocols like Pimlico and Biconomy abstract gas for dApps, but wallets will integrate this directly. The model mirrors web2's 'first ride free' strategy, lowering the absolute barrier to entry.

The counter-intuitive risk is subsidy arbitrage. Users will exploit wallets offering the most generous gas grants, creating a PvP game between treasury managers. This necessitates sophisticated fraud detection akin to Coinbase's batcher or Flashbots' SUAVE.

Evidence: Coinbase Wallet's Smart Wallet already uses account abstraction (ERC-4337) to sponsor gas for new users. Their data shows a 40% increase in successful first transactions, proving the model's immediate impact on user activation.