How 0x meta transactions will boost Ethereum

Earlier this week, I briefly discussed the future of Ethereum as the new ETH 2.0 upgrade approaches with multiple implementations of the Casper PoS protocol.

How will this impact the price and adoption of Ether? It’s too early to say, but due to the high market value of the coin coupled with serious development teams working 24/7 across the world, I seriously doubt Ethereum won’t be here within the next couple of years.

Of course, cryptocurrencies are quite unpredictable. By looking at CoinMarketCap from a few years back, we can see the enormous change to the top five projects listed.

Nonetheless, Ethereum has been able to remain as the second-largest cryptocurrency for most of its infancy, and I expect this trend will continue throughout the year and across 2020 – assuming the Litecoin halving doesn’t push price above ETH (which seems a bit unlikely).

The 0x protocol is making key changes

With the help of ERC standards and Layer-2 sidechain protocols working alongside Ethereum, it becomes possible to further scale the world computer platform with less hassle as work gets distributed among different projects and teams.

One of the best examples is the Zero X (0x) protocol, which is an open protocol that enables the peer-to-peer exchange of assets on the Ethereum blockchain. In essence, you can build relays (like Bancor Network and so many other DEXs did) over the 0x protocol and easily connect to Ethereum to allow P2P transfers of Ethereum assets like most ERC-20 tokens.

The 0x project has a major update scheduled for Q3 of this year, and the upcoming V3.0 upgrade has been pinpointed as a possible price catalyst.

So now is a good time to look ahead to one of the most interesting features due in the update – meta transactions. In short, the developers may have found a new way to onboard new users to cryptocurrencies without them even knowing it.

0x and meta transactions

One of many new features set to arrive in the 0x V3.0 update is meta transactions. When we think about the interaction between users and dApps, the average person on the internet isn’t aware – and doesn’t care – about crypto, blockchain, or decentralisation. One of the major problems faced by Ethereum dApps is that they require way too much onboarding. The Ethereum ecosystem needs to push toward mass adoption by allowing new users immediate access to functionality and interactivity without all the hoops to jump through.

Under Ethereum developer Austin Griffith’s proposed system, a pre-filled wallet would be ready and waiting in-browser. The gas fees for the first couple of transfers (user interactions) would be included to get the first-time user going.

“Key pairs will exist in your browser first and will be generated automatically. The cypherpunks are really going to hate this one, but users shouldn’t be bothered with downloading a wallet up front. First, they need to use the product and provide value within the dApp.”

Once the user has interacted with the app and received tokens of some kind, they can then be prompted to download a wallet and securely transfer their funds, for example.

Using ETH dApps without hassle

As a protocol on the Ethereum blockchain, the development of 0x impacts the development of Ethereum. If meta transactions can be implemented, it will mean new users can interact with Ethereum without first having to go to an exchange and buy ETH.

If we take the blockchain arena as analogous to the early days of the internet, then solutions like these could be the equivalent to plug-and-play operating systems, browsers, and plugins, which the average person now uses without knowing a single thing about how they work. Throwing a ready-made crypto wallet into the mix only makes things more exciting.

Plus, this seems to be a smart way to onboard users without worrying too much about how blockchain or Ethereum works.

In the end, there will always be security concerns with pre-loaded sets of keys. However, one cannot expect to bring more people to dApps without compromising to some degree on security, decentralisation, or both.

I personally hope this update arrives sooner rather than later as it would be a great new feature for 0x and Ethereum.