Visa, a leading payment solutions provider, is undertaking testing of a potentially transformative solution that allows users to pay on-chain gas fees using their Visa cards. Mustafa Bedawala, a Visa Product Manager, presented a report outlining the challenges faced by cryptocurrencies ciescy wallets , Such as the ongoing need to obtain and regulate Ether (ETH), the cryptocurrency used to pay for gas fees on the Ethereum network.
Traditionally, Ethereum users need to acquire ETH from exchanges or on-ramp services and transfer it to their wallets to cover the variable gas fees associated with transactions. These gas fees are subject to frequent adjustments, leading to complexities where users can either overspend or find themselves with an inadequate supply of ETH to cover the fees.
Visa's innovative approach involves around Ethereum's ERC-4337 standard and a smart contract called "Paymaster" for off-chain gas fee settlement. This method involves users initiating an Ethereum transaction through their wallet and sending it to the payer. web service calculates gas fees using Cybersource, collects Visa fees, and then verifies a digital signature before attaching it to the transaction and sending it to Ethereum. The Paymaster smart contract validates the signature and processes the gas fee payment.
This approach eliminates the necessity for users to hold ETH in order to pay gas fees. Visa has conducted experimental trials of this concept on the Ethereum Goerli testnet, utilizing open-source tools like the Stackup's userop.js library. These trials transactions success fully paid fees Through the Paymaster contract, bypassing the requirement for ETH.
The report suggests broader implications, envisioning merchants and decentralized applications leveraging the Paymaster framework to enhance customer interactions and facilitate Visa card payments for gas fees. This innovation also opens doors for wallet and Paymaster providers to introduce Visa card-based gas payment options, further streamlining the cryptocurrency transaction process.
