core: skip fee payment when NoBaseFee is set and feeCap is 0

core/state_transition.go

@@ -344,10 +344,12 @@ func (st *StateTransition) TransitionDb() (*ExecutionResult, error) {
 	if rules.IsLondon {
 		effectiveTip = cmath.BigMin(st.gasTipCap, new(big.Int).Sub(st.gasFeeCap, st.evm.Context.BaseFee))
 	}
-	// effectiveTip may be negative during RPC calls such as eth_call and eth_estimateGas.
-	// In these circumstances, we don't want to subtract balance from the coinbase,
-	// which would otherwise result in a potentially negative balance.
-	if effectiveTip.Sign() > 0 {
+
+	if st.evm.Config.NoBaseFee && st.gasFeeCap.BitLen() == 0 && st.gasTipCap.BitLen() == 0 {
+		// Skip fee payment when NoBaseFee is set and the fee fields
+		// are 0. This avoids a negative effectiveTip being applied to
+		// the coinbase when simulating calls.
+	} else {
 		st.state.AddBalance(st.evm.Context.Coinbase, new(big.Int).Mul(new(big.Int).SetUint64(st.gasUsed()), effectiveTip))
 	}