Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, announced on July 6 in a post on X that his team is working on enabling gas-free peer-to-peer (P2P) stablecoin transfers.
In a post on X, Sun noted that this would mean that stablecoin “transfers can be made without paying any gas tokens, with the fees being entirely covered by the stablecoins themselves.” Sun, however, did not elaborate on how the gasless mechanism would work.
Sun said that the feature will be implemented on the Tron blockchain first, followed by support for Ethereum and all Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible networks. Sun added that his team hopes to launch the feature in the fourth quarter of 2024.
According to Sun, gasless stablecoin transfers could boost mass adoption of stablecoins. He wrote:
“I believe that similar services will greatly facilitate large companies in deploying stablecoin services on the blockchain, elevating blockchain mass adoption to a new level.”
In a post on X on June 27, blockchain analytics firm Artemis noted that Tron has witnessed “consistent growth” across all stablecoin metrics, with its circulating supply recently reaching an all-time-high (ATH) of $60 billion.
Artemis added that addresses using stablecoins on Tron is also at an ATH. The network also leads in terms of P2P stablecoin transfers — transfers on Tron are two to three times that of Ethereum, as per Artemis.
According to Artemis, the data suggest that “Tron is facilitating more payments and money transfers, compared to DeFi activity.”
Tron’s new innovation of gasless stablecoin transfers could emerge as a potential contender for PayPal-issued stablecoin PYUSD. PayPal enables certain U.S.-based users to transfer stablecoins across borders for free.
Another potential contender could be Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), the second largest stablecoin after Tether (USDT). USDC transfers are gasless on Ethereum layer 2 blockchain Base, developed by Circle, using the Coinbase wallet.
Tron is also considering developing a Bitcoin layer 2 network that would support a wrapped version of Tether. The innovation, if developed, could open a gateway for potentially millions of dollars to enter the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Sun’s announcement comes after Circle and Binance discontinued support for USDC on the Tron network.