DustEthic Whitepaper - Relayers
0. Important disclaimer - document status
This document combines two types of information:
As a result:
This document is not:
a promise of profit, yield or future performance,
a financial product offering,
a contractual commitment from DustEthic or from any partner.
This document must be read as a design and discussion support, not as a final description of a production system.
1. Executive summary
This section of the whitepaper describes the role of relayers in the DustEthic ecosystem, the commission models being considered, technical integration options, and some high-level examples of potential revenues.
DustEthic relayers are inspired by existing building blocks of Account Abstraction on Ethereum and L2s (ERC-4337, EntryPoint, UserOperations, bundlers, paymasters), and by ongoing work around EIP-7702 which allows externally owned accounts to temporarily benefit from smart-account-like functionality.
Main goals:
Make dust donations simple for end users.
Optimize gas costs through specialized relayers.
Offer NGOs traceable and auditable donation flows.
Provide a viable business model for operators, without speculative tokens or yield promises.
2. Context and the role of DustEthic relayers
2.1 The “dust” problem
“Dust” refers to small residual balances that are usually too low to be moved economically because of gas or withdrawal fees. DustEthic’s idea is to transform these dormant amounts into aggregated micro-donations for partner NGOs.
Key challenge: the fixed cost of an on-chain transaction remains significant even for very small amounts, which makes aggregation and gas optimization essential.
2.2 Specific role of a DustEthic relayer
A DustEthic relayer is a technical operator that:
Receives donation intents from DustEthic-compatible wallets.
Aggregates these intents (bundling) to reduce average cost per donation.
Submits transactions on-chain, paying gas on behalf of users (directly or via a paymaster).
Gets reimbursed for gas and commission through a DustEthic contract and the donation flows.
Publishes verifiable execution proofs for donors and NGOs.
In the proposed architecture, the relayer is a replaceable component. Multiple relayers can coexist and compete (fees, SLAs, supported networks, etc.).
3. Proposed high-level architecture
3.1 Technical inspirations
The DustEthic relayer architecture is inspired by:
ERC-4337: UserOperations, EntryPoint, bundlers and paymasters to implement Account Abstraction on top of the base protocol.
EIP-7702: “setCode”-style transactions allowing an EOA to temporarily behave like a smart account during a transaction.
Existing AA relayer infrastructures (Gelato, Biconomy, etc.) that already provide gasless and paymaster services on several networks.
DustEthic does not reinvent these building blocks. It proposes a donation-oriented standardization layer on top.
3.2 Conceptual flow of a donation via a relayer
Simplified scenario:
The user opens a DustEthic-compatible wallet and sees their eligible dust balances (by network and token).
They configure a donation (for example “donate all my USDC dust on this L2 to NGO X”).
The wallet constructs a UserOperation or meta-transaction containing:
The dust transfer instructions.
DustEthic metadata (NGO, campaign, tags).
The DustEthic relayer receives and validates the request, then batches multiple operations into a bundle when it makes economic sense, and submits it through a DustEthic contract.
The DustEthic contract moves funds from donors’ accounts to a DustEthic collection address for the NGO and logs the data needed for transparency.
Periodically or after a threshold is reached, the contract forwards aggregated funds to the NGO (an address controlled by the NGO).
3.3 Software layers
A DustEthic relayer can be decomposed into several layers:
Layer 1 - “AA / Relay”: ERC-4337 bundler and paymaster, or equivalent, possibly operated by a third-party provider.
Layer 2 - “DustEthic Core”: dust-donation logic (contracts, aggregation rules, limits, logs).
Layer 3 - “API and wallet / NGO integration”: wallet endpoints, NGO dashboards and exports, monitoring.
4. Considered commission models
4.1 Variables and notation
For a given period (for example one month):
V: total donation volume processed by a relayer (in USD equivalent).
c: global commission rate (for example 0.5 % to 3 % of volume).
G: total gas costs paid by the relayer over the period.
C_infra: infrastructure and operational costs (servers, audits, support).
R_net: relayer’s net revenue.
Generic formula:
4.2 Model 1 - Donor-side commission
Principle:
Example:
c = 1 % of the donated amount.
The user sees: “You donate 1.00, of which 0.99 goes to the NGO and 0.01 to DustEthic infrastructure.”
Pros:
Cons:
4.3 Model 2 - NGO-side commission
Principle:
The NGO accepts that each DustEthic donation is credited net of fees.
The user sees “You donate 1.00 to NGO X”, and the NGO receives for example 0.99.
Pros:
Cons:
4.4 Model 3 - Split commission
4.6 Possible combinations
A single DustEthic ecosystem can allow multiple models to coexist, for example:
Default: NGO-side commission with a fee cap.
For some premium wallets: B2B coverage of fees.
For specific campaigns: reduced or zero commission (sponsored by a third party).
5. Potential gains for a DustEthic relayer
These scenarios are illustrative and do not constitute revenue promises.
5.1 Example assumptions
Assume:
Scenario A - low volume: V = 50,000 USD per month.
Scenario B - mid volume: V = 500,000 USD per month.
Scenario C - high volume: V = 5,000,000 USD per month.
Commission rate: c = 1 %.
Costs (gas + infra) represent 30 % of gross commission.
5.2 Simplified calculations
Scenario A: gross commission 500, R_net ≈ 350.
Scenario B: gross commission 5,000, R_net ≈ 3,500.
Scenario C: gross commission 50,000, R_net ≈ 35,000.
5.3 Gas-cost sensitivity
Key factors:
Target networks (cheap L2s vs congested L1).
Aggregation strategy (minimum threshold per bundle).
Throttling policy to avoid one-by-one tiny donations.
Conclusion: in practice, DustEthic relayers will likely prioritize L2s for most dust flows.
6. Integrating relayers into the DustEthic ecosystem
6.1 Wallet-side integration
Show eligible dust and the fee model.
Use a DustEthic metadata schema to build donation operations.
Explicitly reference the chosen relayer (or list of possible relayers).
6.2 NGO-side integration
Dashboard for received amounts by campaign, token, network.
Transaction list with on-chain hashes.
CSV and
API exports to internal tools.
Cash-out management (crypto / fiat) via partners.
6.3 Integration with existing AA providers
DustEthic relayer directly operated by an AA provider.
Or a DustEthic layer on top of several providers (routing, log normalization, unified UX).
7. Governance, transparency and security
7.1 Public contracts and standards
7.2 Proof of correct execution
Each flow should be traceable: hash, amount, network, relayer, NGO.
Public endpoints to verify donations from a DustEthic identifier.
Aggregated reports for NGOs and, to some extent, for the public.
7.3 Key management and operational risks
Use smart accounts or multi-sig for operator accounts.
Limits per operation, per campaign, per period.
Pause mechanisms in case of anomalies.
8. Caveats and critical analysis
Economic viability depends heavily on global volume.
Regulatory constraints (payments, intermediation, KYC/AML).
Tension between maximum transparency and donor/NGO privacy.
Fast evolution of AA and L2s imposes an evolving standard.
9. Proposed roadmap for DustEthic relayers
Phase 0: internal prototype (1 relayer, 1-2 L2s, 1-2 pilot NGOs).
Phase 1: public “DustEthic - Relayers Standard v1”.
Phase 2: multi-relayer ecosystem, listing criteria, wallet-side choice.
Phase 3: public relayer marketplace and broader governance.
10. References (for this relayer section)
These external sources do not define DustEthic but describe the technical building blocks that inspire this design.
ERC-4337 - Account Abstraction: UserOperation, EntryPoint, bundlers, paymasters - official specification and technical overviews.
OpenZeppelin “Account Abstraction” documentation.
ERC-4337 overviews (Etherscan, Stackup, etc.).
Articles and guides on paymasters and gasless transactions (Alchemy, GoldRush, Biconomy, etc.).
Articles and documentation on EIP-7702 and the Pectra upgrade (Consensys, Alchemy, Circle, QuickNode, etc.).
Biconomy docs on Account Abstraction, smart accounts and paymasters.
Gelato Relay documentation and blog posts.
General blog posts and tutorials about gasless transactions, meta-transactions and AA provider business models.