Visa, the global giant in payment solutions, has made strides into the realm of cryptocurrency by successfully conducting initial tests that enable users to pay their on-chain gas fees directly through Visa card payments. Unveiled by product researcher, Mustafa Bedawala, the innovative project aims to address a common obstacle encountered by cryptocurrency wallet users who are necessitated to maintain their Ethereum balances to cater for fluctuating gas fees.
Traditionally, users have to acquire ETH from Binance or any on-ramp services, thereafter transferring the crypto to their wallets to cover variable gas fees. In an innovative approach, Visa’s solution orbits around Ethereum’s ERC-4337 standard, incorporating a “paymaster” smart contract for off-chain gas fee settlements.
The process works in such a way that when a transaction is initiated from a user’s wallet, it’s redirected to the paymaster. This digital intermediary calculates the gas fee, charges Visa’s payment gateway, Cybersource, and generates a digital signature. Following a brief validation period, the wallet appends the signature to the transaction which is then sent to the Ethereum network. Upon verification, the paymaster covers the gas fee thereby closing the process.
Transactions conducted on the Ethereum Goerli testnet exhibited successful conversions where fees were efficiently transacted through the paymaster, which brought relief from the conventional need for ETH reserve. Visa’s advancement in enabling users to cover gas fees directly via their payment cards eliminates the necessity of possessing ETH.
The report reveals that this groundbreaking move has substantial implications. For instance, it suggests that merchants and decentralized applications (dApps) may tap into the paymaster framework, thus enhancing customer interactions and facilitating gas fee payments through Visa cards.
Moreover, the development could spur wallet and paymaster providers to assimilate Visa-card based gas fee payment options, simplifying user experiences and broadening the practicality of cryptocurrencies.
Visa’s experimental venture is indicative of the company’s commitment towards addressing pain points in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. If successfully leveraged on a larger scale, this off-chain gas fees solution could significantly mitigate hurdles for blockchain users. This could potentially pave the way for seamless integration between traditional payment solutions and cryptocurrencies. Ergo, it’s not just making crypto transactions more efficient but could also mark a significant step towards bringing crypto transactions into mainstream finance.
Source: Cryptonews
