Visa, the global payments leader, has utilized Ethereum’s Goerli testnet to conduct experimentation with transaction-free payments through the utilization of account abstraction.
Data from on-chain activities reveals that Visa employed a smart contract named Paymaster, enabling the company to leverage account abstraction for executing intricate tasks on behalf of accounts and managing transaction expenses.
The primary objective of the Paymaster contract is to provide users the capability to settle gas fees with any token, thus eliminating the necessity for users to possess Ether in their wallets.
Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, recently confirmed via Twitter that the company has successfully deployed its inaugural paymaster smart contract on the Goerli testnet.
“We are excited to witness Visa’s deployment of our inaugural paymaster smart contract on the testnet, as our exploration of account abstraction and ERC-4337 continues,” he stated.
ERC-4337 is an Ethereum standard that facilitates account abstraction within the protocol without necessitating consensus-layer alterations. This empowers users to bundle and automate transactions on the Ethereum network.
Excited to see Visa deploy our first paymaster smart contract on testnet as we continue to research and experiment with account abstraction and ERC-4337https://t.co/JJNWH2W2Ki https://t.co/RLRDx4yPXS
— Cuy Sheffield (@cuysheffield) May 17, 2023
Visa’s Embrace of Ethereum’s Account Abstraction Bears Fruit
Furthermore, Visa acknowledged that this approach offers a degree of flexibility and can elevate the payment process when engaging with digital currencies.
“ERC-4337 introduces intriguing prospects for advancing the on-chain user payment experience through a self-custodial smart contract wallet. This innovation has the potential to reshape users’ interactions with digital currencies and assets.”
Visa’s introduction of the account abstraction concept was initially detailed in a December 2022 blog post. At that time, account abstraction had not yet been integrated into the Ethereum network.
Noteworthy is Visa’s longstanding involvement with Ethereum, tracing back to at least 2021 when the company announced its adoption of settling payments in the USDC stablecoin on the blockchain.
Visa’s Crypto Commitment Persists Amid Recent Turbulence
Despite the recent tumultuous period affecting several prominent digital asset firms, Visa has stood firm in its crypto commitment.
In March, Cuy Sheffield expressed the company’s intention to persist with its crypto strategy and establish fresh partnerships with entities active in the digital asset domain.
Sheffield emphasized that the recent crypto market upheaval hasn’t altered their perspective on digital assets. He reiterated their belief that “fiat-backed digital currencies operating on public blockchains,” referring to stablecoins, possess the potential to play a pivotal role in the payments landscape.
These statements followed a Reuters report suggesting both Visa and Mastercard had opted to postpone the launch of their crypto-related products and services due to uncertain market conditions.
More recently, Sheffield introduced a novel cryptocurrency-related project aimed at propelling mainstream adoption of public blockchain networks and stablecoin-based payments.
He also shared a Visa job listing from April 20 that mentioned the crypto division’s ongoing efforts to create the “next generation of products” for facilitating everyday digital commerce.
Both Visa and Mastercard have been actively pursuing opportunities in the cryptocurrency sphere over the past years, touting it as a transformative force in finance and payments.
