'Gasless' Technical Update Brings USDC One Step Closer to Venmo

You can now send cryptodollars back and forth without paying a fee to the Ethereum network, according to the Centre Consortium in a Thursday blog post.

• Dubbed USDC 2.0, USD Coin (USDC) has integrated what are called "meta transactions" natively to the dollar stablecoin platform. Now, users do not have to pre-fund their USDC-bearing wallets with ether ETH$3,461.68 in order to send a transaction.
• Meta transactions allow USDC wallets and compatible applications to act as virtual "gas stations" by paying the associated mining fee that accompanies every Ethereum blockchain transaction.
• "This [update] enables people to fund their non-custodial wallets with USDC and start using DeFi/dapps without also having to own ETH," Coinbase developer Peter Jihoon Kim told CoinDesk.
• The update is backwards-compatible, meaning old USDC clients can continue using the network without upgrading.
• Centre also released a new on-chain signature schematic to help govern the project as new partners join the Coinbase– and Circle-founded project.
• USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market cap at $1.4 billion.

Read more: Circle Gets $25M From DCG to Drive USDC Mainstream