What Is a Relayer?
A relayer is someone who broadcasts a transaction on your behalf. You sign an intent. They pay the gas (and usually charge you in another token, or take a fee, or get paid by a protocol). Gasless mints, some bridge interfaces, and account-abstraction bundlers all use this shape.
How It Actually Works
- You produce a signature. The relayer wraps it in a real transaction from their EOA and submits it. If they disappear, your signature may expire unused. If they are hostile, they can delay, censor, or sandwich, depending on what you signed.
- Honest relayers are infrastructure. Dishonest "free mint relayers" are a phishing costume. The word is not a safety rating.
- Private orderflow and private mempools are cousins: you are choosing who gets to see and submit your intent.
Risks and Common Mistakes
- Signing an open-ended message because "it's gasless." Gasless means someone else broadcasts. It does not mean someone else cannot drain you.
- Depending on a single relayer for funds you need to move in a hurry. Censorship is a feature of any middleman.
When It Matters
Any "no ETH in wallet required" flow, and bridging UIs that hide the submitter. Convenience you do not understand is a vendor relationship. The Security page still applies.
Related Terms
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