Ever more innovations in cryptos. While most traditional institutions viewed cryptocurrencies VISA and Mastercard have understood the stakes. These bankcard issuers are actively invested in the ecosystem, so much so that VISA has just unveiled a project which could be a game-changer for many blockchain networks.
Gas charges: a problem on many blockchains
I’m sure you’ve experienced this problem before. Just imagine! You want to test a new blockchainand send funds to it. Unfortunately, you don’t have no native token to pay the gas costs on the chain. You’re stuck!
As a result, you are obliged to get said token on a DEX or CEXthen send it to your wallet. This is a time-consuming step, and most of the time requires the use of a credit card to buy the token on a CEX.
The worst part? It’s that the amount sent is often too large, leaving unused tokens after your transactions…. or too small, reducing the number of possible actions.
Either way, this degrades clearly user experienceand that doesn’t help the adoption of cryptocurrencies.
>> Want to be your own bank? Choose a Ledger wallet (commercial link) <<
VISA changes the game with this new solution
VISA may have a solution to this problem. On August 10, @digitalmustafaan employee of VISA’s crypto arm, has revealed a experimental solution.
This solution makes it possible to pay gas onchain fees via a VISA bank card. In practice, this system takes advantage of concepts such as paymasters, account abstraction and EIP-4337.
The entire system is powered by paymasters. A paymaster is a specialized smart contractwhich can sponsor the gas costs incurred by a smart contract wallet. As a reminder, the smart contract wallet is the central component of l’account abstraction.
In other words, when you use the service, VISA converts your fiat payment into the native cryptocurrency for the fee. The contract paymaster then pays the fees instead of your account. As a result, you no longer need to purchase the native token.
« Our experimental solution achieves this goal. It accepts payment of the user’s gas fees off-chain from a VISA card, and covers the equivalent amount on-chain in the user’s name. »
The first tests carried out on the testnet Goerli of Ethereum have been successful. Visa teams were able to execute the user’s transaction by paying the gas in fiat currency via the paymaster.
This is a huge solution for cryptocurrency adoption. As Mustafa pointed out, it could be a opportunity for dealersthe dApps as well as wallet software :
« With this solution, merchants or dApps could use their paymaster to enhance the customer experience, while paying gas fees with VISA cards. Even wallet and paymaster providers could offer payment of fees with VISA cards. »
For its part, rival Mastercard is also continuing its development in cryptos. Recently, it announced the Mastercard Multi-Token Networka network that will bring together different crypto ecosystems to carry out transactions.
To store your cryptos, nothing beats a Ledger wallet. The Nano S and Nano X offer security and ease of use. In fact, they are compatible with the vast majority of cryptos and networks. They are an absolutely essential alternative to all the exchanges that offer to hold your assets for you. Remember, « Not your keys, not your coins »!