IMPORTANT POINTS:
- Visa announced that customers will be able to pay in fiat currencies, either with a credit or debit card, for ETH gas fees.
- “Our goal is to offer a promising approach to substantially address the challenges of blockchain-based transactions,” the company said.
- It should be remembered that, earlier this year, Visa began converting digital assets into fiat payments on the Ethereum blockchain.
Visa announced yesterday afternoon that it will allow customers to pay Ethereum gas fees directly in fiat currency., via credit or debit cards.
To achieve this, the global payment company tested Ethereum Goerli by using a payment contract to sponsor gas fees on behalf of users. Therefore, users can send blockchain transactions without having to worry about maintaining an ETH balance.
“Our experiment aims to offer a promising approach to substantially address the challenges of blockchain-based transactions. By leveraging the innovative concept of a payer, along with account abstraction and the ERC-4337 standard, we explored the potential for a process that could redefine blockchain-based transactions.”Visa team.
Thus, payment and wallet service providers will be able to have a gas fee payment option using cards in conjunction with their existing payment services.
This is not the first time Visa has ventured into the blockchain or cryptocurrency arena. Earlier this year, the global firm began converting digital assets into fiat payments on the Ethereum blockchain.
How to pay Ethereum gas fees with Visa
Visa’s solution revolves around Ethereum’s ERC-4337 account abstraction standard and the use of a “payer” smart contract function. This approach allows off-chain settlements of gas tariffs. The five-step sequence is as follows:
- A user initiates an Ethereum transaction using their wallet, which forwards the transaction details to the payment web service.
- The web service calculates the cost of the gas fee and charges the user’s Visa card using Visa’s Cybersource system for payment processing.
- Once complete, the web service sends a digital signature to the wallet, validating the payment. This validation is effective within a specified period.
- The wallet attaches this signature to the transaction and sends it to the Ethereum network.
- The payer’s smart contract then verifies the authenticity of the signature and covers the gas fee, making it easier to process the transaction.
This series of actions allows users to pay gas fees using their off-chain Visa card. It also eliminates the need to hold ETH solely for fee payments. This approach greatly streamlines the user experience, improving the convenience of transactions.
