Circle launches Paymaster, allowing consumers to pay gas taxes with USDC

Key Takeaways

Circle introduces Paymaster, allowing users to pay blockchain gas fees in USDC, removing the need for native tokens like ETH.
Circle plans to expand Paymaster to other networks, including Ethereum, Polygon PoS, and Solana, while developing cross-chain functionality.

Circle has been introduced Paymaster, a new product that allows users to pay blockchain gas fees with USDC, eliminating the need for native tokens such as ETH.

The service is currently available on Arbitrum and Base, with plans to expand support to Ethereum, Polygon PoS, and Solana.

Future development will focus on enabling cross-chain functionality, allowing users to pay gas fees across multiple blockchains using a single USDC balance.

USDC is the second largest stablecoin with a market cap of $51 billion, trailing USDT Tether, which has a market cap of $138 billion. Circle expects this release to onboard more users to accept USDC.

Traditionally, blockchain transactions have to pay gas fees in native tokens, creating challenges for users who are unfamiliar with managing multiple assets or who do not have sufficient balances.

Paymaster simplifies this process by receiving USDC for gas fees, paying the network in native tokens, and delivering USDC to the recipient. Circle's automatic rebalancing ensures that the system always maintains liquidity for timely transaction processing.

Developers can integrate the permissionless solution with any ERC-4337 compatible wallet, allowing users to pay gas fees in USDC. Circle has also waived the 10% gas tax charge until June 30, 2025, making it easier for consumers to adopt the service.

The product complements Circle's Gas Station feature, which allows developers to support gas charges through credit card payments.