Arbitrum Orbit, which allows developers to build Layer 3 blockchains on top of the Ethereum Layer 2 network Arbitrum, has added support for custom gas tokens or tokens used to pay for blockchain transaction fees.

The development now allows Orbit blockchains to use select ERC-20 tokens (that meet the technical criteria) for handling gas or transaction fees on their networks, Arbitrum said Thursday. Until recently, Orbit chains could only use ether as the gas token.

Having the option of using ERC-20 tokens as gas tokens will allow Orbit chains to create utility for their own tokens and grow their ecosystem. "For example, a game might want to have an in-game economic model but may still wish to build on top of Arbitrum and Ethereum underneath the hood," David Dennis, product marketing lead …