Arbitrum’s Orbit Framework Now Supports USDC as Custom Network Gas Tokens

Developers building using Arbitrum’s Orbit infrastructure can now support USDC, the second-largest stablecoin, as network gas tokens.

Developers building on Arbitrum’s Orbit infrastructure can now use bridged USDC as a custom gas token, allowing network users to pay for transaction fees using the popular stablecoin.

The integration was announced on Aug. 7 by OffChain Labs, the team behind Arbitrum. With more than $1.6 billion in native USDC currently residing on the Arbitrum One network, users can easily move USDC from Arbitrum’s flagship network onto Orbit Chains.

“With bridged USDC as a custom gas token, users can now pay for transaction fees using one of the most popular and widely accepted stablecoins,” said OffChain Labs. “This eliminates the need to hold multiple types of tokens solely for the purpose of covering gas fees, streamlining the transaction process and making it more user-friendly. No more worrying about ETH price volatility impacting your transaction costs.”

The integration also allows Orbit builders to apply for the USDC Grant Program from Circle, the issuer of USDC. Arbitrum also offers grants to Orbit developers.

Orbit is a framework allowing developers to create heavily customized Layer 2 and Layer 3 rollup chains leveraging Arbitrum’s infrastructure. Orbit chain developers can alter core features, including the governance mechanism, data availability layer, and privacy features of a network.

Arbitrum announced support for custom gas tokens on Orbit Chains in January.

Related: Arbitrum community votes to expand Orbit infrastructure beyond Ethereum

Orbit chain expansion

The integration comes as Arbitrum is moving to expand Orbit chains onto new networks, with the Arbitrum community voting to expand the Orbit infrastructure outside of the Ethereum ecosystem.

The proposal included provisions that 10% of profits generated by non-Ethereum Orbit deployments will be shared back to the Arbitrum ecosystem, with 8% going to the Arbitrum DAO and 2% to the Arbitrum Developer Guild.

Orbit chains have recently enjoyed significant growth, with Xai, a gaming-focused Layer 3 network co-developed by OffChain Labs, emerging as the top Layer 3 network by activity. Xai has consistently hosted more than 100 transactions per second (TPS) in recent months.

Reya Network, a modular Layer 2 network built to support trading applications, emerged as the top Orbit DeFi chain by total value locked following its mainnet launch in May. The network currently hosts $119 million in total value locked — down from a post-launch all-time high of more than $250 million — and has hosted $550 million worth of volume.

The price of Arbitrum's ARB token is down 5.8% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.