Gasless Experiences on Ethereum Classic — Ethereum Classic Labs partners with OpenGSN

Are your DApp users frustrated about gas fees?

Well, Gas Station Network (GSN) is a pluggable service allowing DApp providers to offer gasless transactions. We’ve partnered with OpenGSN to integrate this service to the Ethereum Classic (ETC) platform!

Every operation that can be performed by a transaction or smart contract on the ETC platform requires a cost in gas. Gas is the mechanism that measures how much “work” is required to perform an operation [1]. This cost in gas is paid in ETC, in addition to the ETC that is needed to fulfill the transaction. For example, let’s say you had 1.00 ETC and wanted to make a transaction on a DEX or send 1.00 ETC to a recipient. This transaction will require 1.00 ETC, in addition to a decimal amount of ETC. So, the transaction will actually cost 1.00001 ETC or whatever the gas estimate of the platform is at the time.

“One of our main goals is to make Ethereum Classic not just accessible for anyone building on blockchain, but to ensure these options are affordable and best suit the developer ecosystem,” said James Wo, Founder of ETC Labs.

Gas is an essential part of the ETC platform because a transaction fee prevents the network from being spammed by worthless transactions or bad smart contracts. While Gas is an essential mechanism, it does have some User Experience drawbacks. Being, a user has an unknown additional amount of ETC to cover gas costs which can change rapidly based on current platform demand, and many users do not want to frequently visit an exchange. Enter meta-transactions. This is a fancy name for a simple idea: a third-party (called a relayer) can send another user’s transactions and pay themselves for the gas cost [2].

GSN improves this user experience problem by providing a decentralized network of relayers that allows DApp providers to pay for their users’ gas costs. This UX improvement helps ease user onboarding and the overall marketability of a DApp.

How does it work?

Simply, a smart contract is built tied to GSN and maintains an amount in ETC to subsidize users’ gas costs. When a user makes a transaction with the smart contract, it’s relayed to GSN which charges the smart contract to pay the users’ transaction, plus a small service fee. Once integrated with GSN, the entire process is automated on the platform and user get a lovely gasless experience with minimal costs to the DApp provider.

As part of the Gitcoin virtual hackathon for New York Blockchain Week, we’re unveiling a round of bounties, including “Best GSN Project on Ethereum Classic $500–1000,” which challenges miners to create a project that utilizes GSN on Ethereum Classic. This is an open-ended bounty that can be fun and creative but most importantly, promotes GSN use on Ethereum Classic. Click here to learn more and start solving the bounty.

To learn more about how to start integrating the GSN into your ETC application, visit https://www.opengsn.org/. For live support join OpenGSN on Telegram, here.

About Ethereum Classic Labs

The mission of ETC Labs is to build relevant, accessible, and high-quality technology, and to use that technology to create communities of value in a mature and regulated ecosystem. The ultimate goal is to fulfill the promise of blockchain to improve people’s lives using Ethereum Classic, one of the world’s major public blockchains. The ETC Labs team of experts also fosters partnerships with organizations and institutions in order to address fundamental challenges in developing and deploying this innovative technology. We fulfill the mission in three ways: the ETC Labs Accelerator, which invests in up to 25 blockchain projects annually that contribute to sustaining a robust ecosystem; strategic investments in innovative projects focused on economic and social development; and the Core Team, a team of experts and developers who maintain the Ethereum Classic blockchain and build key applications, solutions, and tools. For press inquiries please contact, kelsey.r@etclabs.org

About Gas Station Network

GSN abstracts away gas to minimize onboarding & UX friction for dapps. With GSN, gasless clients can interact with Ethereum Classic contracts without users needing ETC for transaction fees. The GSN is a decentralized system that improves dapp usability without sacrificing security.

Sources:

[1] https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-is-meant-by-the-term-gas

[2] https://docs.openzeppelin.com/learn/sending-gasless-transactions