Payment of commissions without ether will be possible on the Ethereum network

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By TP

Base is the network created by the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. This network is the second Ethereum L2 in highest value locked, with almost $2.5 billion. Payment of commissions without ether will be possible on Base, the second layer (L2) network of Ethereum created by the Coinbase exchange. Base will allow application developers in its ecosystem to enable users to pay transaction fees in tokens other than the native Ethereum cryptocurrency. The news was announced by the team behind the Base development platform on October 10. Thus, users will be able to pay these fees with ERC-20 tokens, including USDC and custom tokens. Other examples of ERC-20 tokens would be MATIC, from the Polygon network, UNI, from the Uniswap platform, SAND. That said, it is likely that applications will use their own native ERC-20 tokens to enable such commission payments, since the Base network requires participating developers to have their own token listed on platforms such as CoinMarketCap. Initially, paying commissions with a variety of ERC-20 tokens facilitates the procedure of interaction with Base decentralized applications (dApps). Eliminates the need to finance wallets exclusively with ETH to pay gas rates. In this way, users can carry out their transactions within the dApp without having to go out to buy ETH, which simplifies the process and eliminates the need to make additional transactions to convert other assets into ether. This utility enabled by Base is especially useful when users' wallets run out of native ether token to pay commissions, which prevents them from moving their assets even if they have other funds in the wallet. Secondly, this Base charging system could also benefit enhance the value and utility of variety of ERC-20 tokens in the Base network. Additionally, if users can pay gas fees with dApp-specific ERC-20 tokens, these tokens become more useful and necessary. This may increase demand for such tokens, as users will need to acquire them not only to interact with the dApp. With this measure, some developers could offer incentives or discounts to users who pay these commissions with their native tokens. So for those who participate in these applications it may be more beneficial to maintain and use these tokens. Yes they can be used for multiple purposes. However, the announcement about this new resource in Base states that it is available with “early access and only works with any smart wallet. At the protocol layer, gas is still paid in ETH.” Regarding this. Although the report did not delve into the implications of “early access,” it could be inferred that this is an initial testing phase and that it could be enabled for certain eligible developers in the future. Ultimately, the Coinbase network team communicated three requirements for those developers who would like to use this system. One, that it be implemented in an application on the Base main network; secondly have an ERC-20 token listed on a market capitalization website (CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko, for example); and thirdly, that the dapp supports any smart wallet. Unlike traditional cryptocurrency wallets, smart wallets are powered by smart contracts, allowing them to execute complex tasks such as recurring payments, fund allocation, and automated transactions. This provides greater flexibility and a wider range of capabilities.

Base is one of the fastest growing Ethereum L2 networks

In early September 2024, BitcoinDynamic reported the notable growth in the efficiency of Ethereum's second-layer networks during this year. Among them was Base. This network registered at that time a 528% increase in the number of gas per second (Mgas/s) it processes.

On October 11, 2024, the on-chain analysis platform Into The Block reported that Base, launched on August 9, 2023, would be close to exceed $2.5 billion of the total value locked on its network (TVL, total value locked).

In this way, in this statistic it was just below Arbitrum, the largest L2 on Ethereum. In the following graph, the Arbitrum TVL (blue line) and that Base metric (yellow line) are seen with a blue line.

Base, the Coinbase network, is close to surpassing Arbitrum in TVL. Source: X

Part of Base's growth could be explained by the implementation of 'Basenames', a new tool that allows developers and users associate your identity with your wallets using easy-to-remember namesinstead of addresses made up of alphanumeric characters.