What if you could pay gas fees with stablecoins?

Summary

For users accustomed to Web2, one of the most significant barriers to entering the Web3 ecosystem is the need to hold a blockchain’s native token specifically for paying gas fees. This is particularly frustrating for users who hold stablecoins but must separately acquire native tokens to execute a transaction.

To address this friction, Kaia is introducing Gas Abstraction (GA), a network-level feature that allows users to pay transaction fees with various supported tokens, eliminating the need to hold KAIA. Unlike existing solutions that often rely on centralized services, Kaia’s GA is a fully trustless and decentralized mechanism. It is handled automatically by block proposers, ensuring security and uninterrupted service.

This feature is a critical infrastructure for enabling a real-time, global stablecoin payment experience and is poised to become a cornerstone of Web3’s mainstream adoption. Gas Abstraction will be introduced to the Kaia mainnet in July 2025 and will be progressively integrated as a native feature across dApps and wallets in the ecosystem.

Introduction

One of the most confusing hurdles for newcomers in Web3 is the concept of “gas.” In the current paradigm, users must hold a network’s native token — like ETH on Ethereum or KAIA on the Kaia network — to pay for transaction fees. This is a major obstacle for individuals transitioning from the seamless payment experiences of Web2.

Kaia’s Gas Abstraction (GA) feature is designed to dismantle this barrier and deliver a user experience fit for the age of stablecoins. With GA, users can execute on-chain transactions without holding KAIA coins, dramatically simplifying the process and improving usability.

The Gas Fee Problem

To use any Web3 service, from participating in an airdrop to using a DeFi protocol or playing a blockchain game, you must first own the native token of that blockchain. For a Web2 user, this is an unintuitive and cumbersome requirement. Imagine wanting to use a service and having the necessary funds in a stablecoin, only to be blocked by the need to visit an exchange and purchase a small amount of a different token just for fees. It’s a poor user experience.

This problem is a significant drag on the potential of stablecoins, which are rapidly emerging as a global standard for payments and remittances. Major companies are adopting stablecoins like USDT, and discussions are underway for new stablecoins pegged to national currencies. However, their utility is capped by the underlying requirement to hold a separate gas token. Even if you can pay for goods and services with a “digital dollar” like USDT, the hidden requirement of also carrying a gas token makes the process inconvenient for both individual users and organizations.

Kaia’s Solution: Gas Abstraction (GA)

To solve this, Kaia is introducing Gas Abstraction (GA), a feature that revolutionizes how transaction fees are paid. In short, GA allows you to pay for gas using other supported tokens instead of KAIA. For example, you can cover network fees using stablecoins (e.g., USDT, or a future KRW-pegged stablecoin) or other major tokens within the Kaia ecosystem.

You no longer need to prepare a native token for gas. The network automatically deducts a small amount from the token you already hold and converts it to cover the fee, allowing your transaction to execute seamlessly.

Kaia’s Gas Abstraction is a fully decentralized and trustless solution based on the KIP-247: Gasless Transaction and KIP-245: Transaction Bundle proposals. While other projects have offered similar functionality, most rely on a centralized “paymaster” or third party to handle fees on the user’s behalf. In contrast, Kaia’s GA empowers the block proposer (the Consensus Node building the block) to temporarily cover the KAIA fee for the user and be reimbursed with the user’s token within the very same block. The entire process is handled at the network level without any trusted intermediary, increasing reliability, mitigating risk, and allowing users to interact with the blockchain as if gas fees don’t exist.

The Gas Abstraction feature is currently active on the Kairos testnet as part of the Kaia v2.0 upgrade. Following a period of stabilization, it is scheduled to launch on the mainnet around July 2025, bringing its convenience to all Kaia users.

How Kaia’s Gas Abstraction Works

So, how is this possible? When a user submits a gasless transaction, the Kaia network recognizes it and automatically executes the following sequence.

An Atomic, Four-Step Process

1. Lend Transaction (LendTx): The block proposer first sends a small amount of KAIA to the user’s address — just enough to cover the transaction’s gas fee. This acts as a temporary loan.
2. Approval Transaction (ApproveTx): The network initiates a smart contract approval for the token the user is paying with (e.g., USDT). This step allows the swap contract to access the user’s tokens for the fee conversion. This can be skipped if approval has been granted previously or if the token supports a `permit` function.
3. Swap Transaction (SwapTx): The user’s tokens are sent to a specialized smart contract, the `GaslessSwapRouter`, which swaps them for KAIA. The amount swapped is equivalent to the KAIA loaned in the first step, plus a small fee. This reimburses the block proposer.
4. Original Transaction: With the gas fee now covered, the user’s original transaction — whether sending funds, buying a game item, or interacting with a DeFi protocol — is finally executed.

These four steps are bundled together and processed simultaneously with “all-or-nothing” atomicity. If any step fails for any reason, the entire bundle is discarded from the block and all actions are rolled back. This ensures that users are never left with a partially failed transaction, guaranteeing execution consistency.

Seamless Integration without Hard Forks

Implementing Gas Abstraction does not require a hard fork or a new chain. Kaia has been upgraded at the protocol level to handle this process while maintaining full EVM compatibility. The combination of the `GaslessSwapRouter` smart contract and new network rules solves the gas problem elegantly. As a result, dApp developers and users do not need to make any code changes to benefit from GA. This lightweight approach allows for rapid adoption without introducing the complexities of other solutions like Account Abstraction.

Why a Trustless Architecture is Essential

When designing its Gas Abstraction feature, the Kaia team prioritized a fully “trustless” architecture. While the concept of paying gas with alternative tokens is not new, previous solutions — such as those using metatransactions or dedicated gas services — have typically relied on a centralized third party. In these models, a user sends a signed transaction to a relayer server, which is responsible for paying the gas fee and submitting the transaction to the blockchain. This approach introduces significant vulnerabilities, as it requires trusting the relayer. If the server experiences downtime, transactions can be delayed or fail entirely. Furthermore, a malicious intermediary could censor transactions.

Kaia’s Gas Abstraction is engineered to eliminate these fundamental drawbacks. By integrating fee management directly into the network protocol, it removes the need for any trusted external entity. When a block proposer detects a gasless transaction, it automatically handles the entire process — from lending the initial gas fee to being reimbursed with the user’s token — all within the same block as per the network’s rules. Because this mechanism is a core function shared by all nodes on the Kaia network, it does not depend on any single server or operator. This network-wide decentralization guarantees that Gas Abstraction is delivered reliably, without the risk of service interruptions or delays associated with centralized systems.

Powering Global Stablecoin Payments with Trustless Infrastructure

Stablecoins are rapidly evolving from crypto-native assets into a global payment method. Major financial players like PayPal and Visa are already operating stablecoin payment systems, while governments and institutions in South Korea, Singapore, Europe, and beyond are exploring or issuing their own. This trend signals a significant step toward the democratization of Web3, making it more accessible to a global audience.

However, for stablecoins to achieve widespread adoption, a critical technical prerequisite must be met: the underlying infrastructure must support real-time, uninterrupted payments, allowing anyone to transact reliably, anytime and anywhere. This is where a major obstacle arises. As previously mentioned, most existing gas abstraction solutions depend on a centralized relayer. This model is ill-suited for a global payment system, as it introduces unacceptable risks:

• Payment delays or failures due to server downtime.
• Censorship by a malicious or controlled intermediary.
• A single point of failure that could halt service entirely.

To deliver a payment experience reliable enough for global stablecoin usage, this dependency on centralization must be eliminated. The network itself must be able to process these transactions, making a trustless approach the only viable path to scale. Kaia solves this problem by implementing its Gas Abstraction in a fully trustless manner, where the network protocol itself detects and processes gasless transactions automatically. Block proposers are incentivized to include these transactions because they are guaranteed reimbursement, plus a fee, within the same block, ensuring the network as a whole provides uninterrupted service.

Ultimately, for stablecoins to become a trusted, real-world payment method, the ability to pay for gas with them is not enough — the stability and decentralization of that function are what truly matter.

Gas Abstraction in Action: Real-World Scenarios

Let’s make this more concrete. Here’s how Gas Abstraction transforms the user experience.

Scenario 1: International Remittance

• Background: Ben in the United States wants to send USDT to his family in South Korea. He has USDT in their wallet but no KAIA.
• The Old Way: If Ben tries to complete the transaction using a Kaia-based remittance service in Korea, he would be stuck. He’d have to go to an exchange, buy KAIA, send it to their wallet, and only then could he complete his USDT transfer.
• The Kaia Way: With Gas Abstraction:

1. Ben initiates the transfer using a Kaia-based service, holding only USDT.
2. The network automatically handles the gas fee. A block proposer lends the KAIA, and a tiny fraction of Ben’s USDT is swapped to repay it.
3. His family receives the USDT almost instantly.

Ben successfully sends 100 USDT, and his balance is debited for 100.00151 USDT to cover the fee. He never had to think about KAIA or worry about a failed transaction due to insufficient gas. The cross-border payment is as simple as a Web2 experience.

Scenario 2: In-game Payments in a Mini-dApp

• Background: Alice wants to play a new Mini-dApp game running on Kaia. She has USDT but holds 0 KAIA.
• The Old Way: Alice would have to leave the game’s site, go to an exchange, buy KAIA, and transfer it to her wallet before she could make her first in-game purchase.
• The Kaia Way: When Alice decides to buy an in-game item, her wallet prompts her: “Pay gas fee with USDT?” She clicks “Confirm,” and the GA process runs automatically in the background.

1. Alice requests the item purchase with just USDT in her wallet.
2. The block proposer facilitates the transaction by lending the KAIA gas fee.
3. A portion of her USDT is instantly swapped to cover the fee.
4. The item purchase is completed.

Alice is now in the game and playing, all without the friction of buying, swapping, or refilling a separate gas token. Using a Web3 dApp becomes as simple as any other online purchase.

What’s Next for Gas Abstraction

The Gas Abstraction feature is currently live and undergoing stabilization on the Kairos testnet. The Kaia development team is rigorously validating the entire process to ensure it functions flawlessly, maintains atomicity, and is secure across a wide range of tokens. Following this phase, GA will be included in the upcoming mainnet v2.0 upgrade. If the schedule holds, GA will be available to all Kaia mainnet users around July 2025.

Initially, GA will support a select list of key tokens, with priority given to major stablecoins and tokens from key partners in the Kaia ecosystem. (Note: The KIP-247 proposal specifies that Consensus Liquidity-related tokens will be whitelisted initially.) Over time, we plan to expand the range of supported tokens through community governance, potentially adding new fiat-pegged stablecoins or other promising project tokens as gas payment options.

To ensure a seamless user experience, the Kaia team is collaborating with wallet providers and dApp services to integrate GA functionality naturally. The goal is to make paying fees with other tokens a simple, one-click option in the wallet interface and to spread the gas-free experience across the ecosystem.

Developer support is also a top priority. The Kaia SDK will soon include modules and documentation dedicated to Gas Abstraction, allowing developers to integrate GA into their dApps with minimal effort. This will empower more services to offer a gasless experience, creating a virtuous cycle that strengthens the entire Kaia network.