GasHawk: Improving OnChain Transaction Efficiency

Milestone Update

GasHawk is a non-custodial service designed to improve transaction efficiency, safety, and security across diverse blockchain ecosystems. Previously awarded a Large Grant from the ENS Public Goods Working Group in Q4 2023, GasHawk focused on addressing the challenge of rising transaction fees on the Ethereum network. Since then, it has expanded its reach to support both Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) networks, including Optimism, Base, and Sepolia, serving a diverse clientele ranging from individual users to institutional clients such as L2 operators, exchanges, and DAOs.

This article highlights GasHawk’s recent progress and key milestones achieved during its second Public Goods Large Grant, awarded in Q3 2024. For insights into their earlier achievements and foundational goals, explore our previous article, Optimizing Gas Fees with GasHawk.

Expanding Services Beyond Fees

GasHawk has expanded its mission to provide a comprehensive suite of services designed to enhance the efficiency, safety, and security of onchain interactions. Key services include:

• Transaction Management: Preventing Failed and Stuck TXs.

• MEV Protection: Safeguarding users from Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) attacks, where malicious actors reorder or front-run transactions for profit.

• Scam Protection: Assisting users in avoiding fraudulent activities within the blockchain space.

• Cashback Rewards and Rebates: Providing incentives for users who engage with GasHawk's services.

By offering an all-in-one solution, GasHawk aims to simplify the complexities of the crypto space. Their objective is to centralize transaction management under a single provider, streamlining user experiences and improving communication between clients and blockchain nodes.

Private Mempool Solutions

GasHawk is actively integrating multiple private mempool solutions, including MEVBlocker and Flashbots. This initiative aims to enhance the user experience by providing effective MEV protection and addressing inclusion delays—the time taken for a transaction to be added to a block. Reducing these delays is vital for maintaining performance, as any lag can lead to higher fees and reduced efficiency. By utilizing private mempool options, GasHawk seeks to improve transaction efficiency and expand its feature set, ensuring that users' transactions are processed swiftly, cost-effectively and securely.

Paymaster Services

Paymasters, introduced by EIP-4337 in the Ethereum ecosystem, are smart contracts that enable third parties to sponsor transaction fees, allowing for gasless transactions. Previously, users needed ETH to cover costs; now, smart contract wallets can initiate transactions without holding the native token. This innovation facilitates transaction sponsorship, enabling contracts (Dapps, Wallets, Chains) to pay TX fees on behalf of users under specific conditions.

GasHawk intends to build a paymaster services to enhance Dapp, Chain, and wallet user acquisition by offering sponsored transaction fees to new users. They also aim to develop bundler and relayer services that streamline the transaction process, connecting user initiation with blockchain finalization, ultimately improving cross chain transaction management efficiency.

Support for Blob-Based Execution Services

The introduction of blob transactions via EIP-4844 enhances Ethereum's transaction processing. Blobs are large data chunks temporarily stored on the blockchain, enabling cheaper settlements for rollups. This innovation introduces Type Three transactions, which coexist with traditional base fee transactions in a block, currently allowing up to six blobs per block. This change helps Layer 2 (L2) sequencer operators significantly reduce costs when posting transaction data to the Ethereum mainnet.

GasHawk plans to develop targeted solutions for Layer 2 sequencer operators to enhance network efficiency as the demand for blobs starts to accelerate.

Funding and Development Milestones

GasHawk's journey began with small grants from organizations like the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), which allowed the project to reimburse early users for gas fees. Over time, the project has secured larger grants, including a recent $1.6 million pre-seed round.

GasHawk was awarded 40k USDC from the PG Working Group to work on implementations. The team successfully achieved two of the four milestones, including support for Optimism, Base, and Sepolia, along with the integration of multiple private mempool solutions. Upcoming milestones include the development of a paymaster/relayer service and the implementation of blob-based execution services.

About ENS DAO Grants

The Large Grants initiative from the Public Goods Working Group supports foundational public goods in the Ethereum and Web3 ecosystems, offering grants of up to 50k USDC for impactful projects. To learn more, visit the ENS DAO Forum and follow ENS DAO for updates on future opportunities.