Popular Payment Giant, Visa has launched a new initiative that would allow users to pay for gas fees using their debit card. The payment merchant unveiled the initiative today via an official blog post. As revealed, the new solution will leverage the ERC-4337 standard. This standard facilitates account abstraction on the Ethereum network. Consequently, allowing third parties to help users pay for gas fees.
More so, the solution will help eliminate the need to hold ETH to pay for gas fees on the Ethereum network. Before its implementation, Visa tested the project on the Ethereum Goerli testnet, through userop.js library, an open-source tool. The pilot program of the initiative went smoothly as the payment merchant covered the gas fee without the need for users to pay with ETH.
Additionally, the new solution reflects the commitment of Visa to establishing its presence in the crypto landscape. Lately, the payment merchant has initiated numerous projects to enhance its popularity in the crypto industry. With the latest introduction, Visa intends to create new use cases and sources of revenue for merchants and developers.
Recall that in December 2022, the paymaster developed an automated payment feature for self-custodial wallets. According to a Binbits report, the solution supports users to make automatic payments for their electricity and telephone bills. Then, Visa indicated that the automated payment feature will aid service providers to automatically deduct service fees from users’ Ethereum-compatible wallets.
Insights into the gas fee payment solution by Visa
Mustafa Bedawala, a product manager at Visa, provided more details about the innovation. The product manager revealed that the solution would help banish concerns about managing ETH balances to pay for gas fees. Also, in his submission, Bedawala stated that the payment merchant has been “exploring ways to simplify blockchain transactions.”
Likewise, in the announcement, Visa explained the processes of the new solution. As revealed, the Paymaster will first receive an order of users’ Ethereum transactions facilitated for their self-custodial wallet. Thereafter, Visa, through its Cybersource payment service will communicate with a web service to calculate the gas fee.
Further, the web service will provide a temporary virtual signature attached to the transaction by the wallet, then send it to the Ethereum network. Accordingly, Visa will confirm the signature, and pay for the gas fee with ETH from its designated balance.