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Relayers

Account Abstraction (EIP-4337) provides a mechanism for native Meta Transactions to be a part of the Ethereum protocol.

Meta Transactions​

Meta transactions allow users to perform Ethereum transactions without having ETH for gas fees. Instead, they sign a transaction with their private key and then pass it to a third party, known as a Relayer, that broadcasts the transaction to the Ethereum network. The Relayer pays the gas fee and, in turn, can be compensated by the user in another token or even off-chain.

How Relayers work​

User-Signed Payloads: Users create and sign transaction payloads but don't broadcast them to the network directly.

Relayer Role: Instead of broadcasting transactions, users send their signed payloads to a Relayer. The Relayer then wraps these payloads in standard Ethereum transactions and broadcasts them to the network.

Gas Payment: The gas for transactions is paid by the Relayer. However, it is also possible for the Relayer to be reimbursed by users in a token other than ETH.

Sponsorship: Sponsors cover transaction fees. In this context, the sponsor could be considered a specific type of Relayer that willingly pays transaction fees on behalf of users without expecting reimbursement.