Gas Sponsorship
Your agents only need USDC. We handle the gas.
What is Gas?
On Ethereum (and Base), every transaction requires a small fee paid in ETH — this is called “gas.” It's like postage for blockchain transactions. Even when you're sending USDC, you need a tiny amount of ETH to pay the network fee.
On Base (Ethereum L2), gas costs are incredibly low — typically $0.001 or less per transaction. But you still need ETH in the wallet to pay it.
The Problem
If you just want to give your AI agent USDC, requiring it to also hold ETH for gas is confusing and adds friction. You'd have to buy ETH, bridge it to Base, send it to the agent wallet — all before the agent can make its first USDC payment.
The Solution
IndieGent sponsors gas automatically. When you fund an agent wallet for the first time, we send a tiny amount of ETH (~$0.10 worth) from our platform hot wallet. This is enough for hundreds of transactions on Base.
How It Works
- You create an agent wallet and fund it with USDC
- IndieGent detects the first funding event
- We automatically send ~0.00005 ETH to the agent wallet from our gas sponsor wallet
- This appears as a
gas_sponsortransaction in your history - Your agent can now sign USDC transactions without ever touching ETH
Auto Re-Sponsorship
A cron job runs every 5 minutes and checks all active agent wallets. If any wallet's ETH balance drops critically low, we automatically re-sponsor gas. You never have to think about it.
Cost Breakdown
| What | Cost |
|---|---|
| Typical USDC transfer on Base | ~$0.001 |
| Gas sponsored per agent (initial) | ~$0.10 worth of ETH |
| Transactions per sponsorship | ~100-500 depending on network conditions |
| Re-sponsorship | Automatic, same amount |
Why Base?
We chose Base (Coinbase's Ethereum L2) specifically because of its low gas costs. On Ethereum mainnet, a USDC transfer can cost $5-50. On Base, the same transfer costs a fraction of a penny. This makes micro-payments viable — your agent can pay $0.01 for an API call without the gas fee being more than the payment itself.
| Chain | USDC Transfer Cost |
|---|---|
| Ethereum Mainnet | $5 - $50 |
| Polygon | $0.01 - $0.05 |
| Arbitrum | $0.01 - $0.10 |
| Base | $0.0005 - $0.002 |
FAQ
Do I ever need to buy ETH?
No. IndieGent sponsors all gas fees. Your agents only need USDC.
What if gas prices spike?
Base gas prices are extremely stable due to its L2 architecture. Even during Ethereum mainnet congestion, Base remains cheap. In the unlikely event of a spike, our re-sponsorship cron adapts automatically.
Is there a limit to gas sponsorship?
We sponsor gas for all active agent wallets. If you have 100 agents, all 100 get gas sponsored. This is included in the platform — no extra charge.
Can I see gas sponsorship transactions?
Yes. Every gas sponsorship appears as a gas_sponsor transaction in your agent's transaction history, including the ETH amount and transaction hash.