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'Gasless' Technical Update Brings USDC One Step Closer to Venmo
Users do not have to pre-fund their USDC-bearing wallet with ether before every transaction, according to Centre.
Updated Feb 16, 2022, 7:30 p.m. Published Aug 27, 2020, 6:22 p.m.
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You can now send cryptodollars back and forth without paying a fee to the Ethereum network, according to the Centre Consortium in a Thursday blog post.
- Dubbed USDC 2.0, USD Coin (USDC) has integrated what are called "meta transactions" natively to the dollar stablecoin platform. Now, users do not have to pre-fund their USDC-bearing wallets with ether in order to send a transaction.
- Meta transactions allow USDC wallets and compatible applications to act as virtual "gas stations" by paying the associated mining fee that accompanies every Ethereum blockchain transaction.
- "This [update] enables people to fund their non-custodial wallets with USDC and start using DeFi/dapps without also having to own ETH," Coinbase developer Peter Jihoon Kim told CoinDesk.
- The update is backwards-compatible, meaning old USDC clients can continue using the network without upgrading.
- Centre also released a new on-chain signature schematic to help govern the project as new partners join the Coinbase– and Circle-founded project.
- USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market cap at $1.4 billion.
Read more: Circle Gets $25M From DCG to Drive USDC Mainstream
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