- The Ethereum network recently saw the highest transaction fees in the last two years.
- The high gas prices caused numerous firms that use the network to look for a cheaper solution.
- Coinbase issued an upgrade to USDC that will remove ETH-based fees, and let users pay them in USDC.
The Ethereum network has seen quite a significant surge in transaction fees lately. In fact, the increase has been so big that it has become a major problem for crypto users. As a result, many different crypto businesses and projects were trying to find a solution, with the latest one on that list being The US’ largest crypto exchange, Coinbase.
According to a recent announcement, Coinbase recently collaborated with Circle to launch a new and improved version of the popular stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC). The upgrade went live yesterday, August 27th, and its goal was to reduce high gas prices by letting developers to take fees in USDC,
According to the announcement, the high ETH fees have led to most users having to keep a constant supply of extra Ether in their wallets, just to be able to make transactions. This is an unnecessary complication that might stand in the way of adoption and usage of the stablecoin,
What changes did the upgrade bring?
The so-called USDC 2.0 will address the issue by bringing a new concept of ‘gasless sends.’ Basically, it will allow wallet developers to distance themselves from the complicated gas fees, and let them delegate payments of gas fees to different addresses.
This would negate then need for users to keep extra ETH just so that they could send USDC between addresses. Further, it would allow developers to either pay the fees on users’ behalf, or transfer that burden to a different service.
The end result would be the removal of Ethereum from the process, and the ability to send and receive USDC payments with fees paid in USDC itself.
On top of that, the coin will also have additional security, such as the new on-chain multi-signature contracts that will feature new consensus mechanisms. Not only that, but there will be no impacts or changes to any app, wallet, or exchange that uses USDC.