The Onboard protocol enables gasless transactions by implementing the permit function, allowing end users of the protocol to lock funds in escrow without paying gas fees.

The permit functionality leverages EIP-2612, a standard for users to grant permission to others to spend their tokens in a single transaction, simplifying the process of approving token transfers.

When a user is selling crypto, the user signs a gasless approval message, which authorizes the protocol initiator to pay gas on the user’s behalf for that transaction.

For ERC-20 tokens that don’t support the native permit function, Onboard integrates Uniswap’s Permit2.

Using Permit2, customers must make an initial approval transaction with gas fees, after which the Permit2 contract handles subsequent transactions without further gas costs.