Onchain DNA: Who Gets Free Transactions on ZERϴ Network

On ZERϴ, transactions are free for legitimate Zerion Wallet users. But who exactly can get them? And how is this decided? In this post, we explore Onchain DNA and how it enables free transactions. 

How free transactions work on ZERϴ 

First, let’s get clear on what makes ZERϴ different. 

Ethereum and other smart contract blockchains use gas to prevent network abuse. Without gas fees, any address could create an unlimited number of transactions. This would result in spam, which is still rampant on cheap L2s. For example, on Uniswap on Base, over 60% of transactions are under $1, i.e. spam.  

Furthermore, even “honest” non-spammer accounts could clog the network with code that runs forever due to infinite loop errors. To prevent both spam and errors, transactions have costs.

We believe people should not pay for gas or think about gas at all. Gas should be left to developers. 

That’s why on ZERϴ, transactions are free for users. Gas fees still exist, but they are removed for people (and maybe later also for benevolent AI agents). 

To prevent abuse, each transaction first goes through Onchain DNA.

What is Onchain DNA 

Onchain DNA is a dynamic scoring system that evaluates each wallet address to determine if it’s eligible for free transactions. 

The name might remind you of Zerion DNA. Currently, the second-biggest NFT collection on Ethereum, Zerion DNA, was a ground-breaking experiment using the holder’s onchain footprint to generate metadata and NFT images. 

Onchain DNA is not an NFT (at least for now). Yet the experience of working with Zerion DNA’s onchain data taught us a lot about telling apart real users from bots. 

Here is what happens at a high level: 

• You start a transaction in Zerion Wallet 
• Onchain DNA checks if your address is eligible for free transactions 
• If the address is eligible, you don’t pay gas fees 
• Under the hood, ZERϴ’s Paymaster pays gas fees on your behalf 

When checking eligibility, Onchain DNA currently checks primarily your address balance: 

• Balance across all chains — for initial free transactions  
• Balance on ZERϴ — for subsequent free transactions 

The exact number of free transactions varies, but you will unlikely hit a limit. This limit is dynamic and depends on several factors related to your onchain footprint. 

If you ever hit the limit, you can just wait a bit. After some time (this depends on your wallet footprint), you’ll gain more free transactions.

To get more free transactions, you can also bridge more assets to ZERϴ from mainnet Ethereum and many L2s. 

In future iterations, Onchain DNA will use more onchain data signals — there is a wealth of enterprise-grade wallet data in Zerion API.

How to get free transactions 

You'll get free transactions immediately if you already have some assets in Zerion Wallet. 

To get more free transactions, bridge some assets to ZERϴ.

If you’re new to Zerion Wallet, you have two options: 

• Import any active wallet address — if it’s not empty, you’ll get your first free TXs 
• Create a new wallet and fund it 

If you run into any problems, you can find more information in Zerion Help Center. 

Bridge now 

So now you know how free transactions work on ZERϴ. 

If you use Zerion Wallet, you can enjoy free transactions. And to get even more free TX and play around with dapps on ZERϴ, bridge from any L2.