Stablecoin issuer Circle has launched a new tool that it says will allow developers to “remove the complexity” of building Web3 applications, according to an announcement and accompanying social media post on October 19.
Called the “Smart Contract Platform,” the new tool allows developers to deploy smart contracts using a set of pre-vetted code templates and a console or REST API, making it potentially easier to use for traditional Web2 programmers. .
Circle also launched a gas station tool that allows developers to pay their users’ gas fees, which they say can make it easier to onboard users.
1/ We present gas stations and smart contract platforms, designed to #developers And available in beta version!
Our two new #web3 Services products provide solutions for developers and enterprises to eliminate cost, complexity, and friction for application users. Let’s dig in to find out how our Web3 services continue… pic.twitter.com/gZnpAvYepT
– Circle (@circle) October 19, 2023
When developers deploy smart contracts, they typically rely on Web3 development tools like Truffle or Hardhat to do the deployment. When using these tools, contracts must be written in Solidity, a language that some mainstream programmers don’t know very well. They also require developers to create and run blockchain “migration” or deployment scripts, a process that some Web2 developers are not familiar with.
According to its documents, the Circle smart contract platform provides a set of pre-vetted templates that can be used to create a variety of smart contracts. For example, developers can use the templates to produce contracts for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain loyalty programs, and interactions with Uniswap or other decentralized finance projects or with Circle stablecoin contracts. This means that a developer can use the platform to avoid having to create an entire Solidity contract from scratch, which can make it easier for Web2 developers to start building in Web3.
Related: Account abstraction will drive 1 billion users to Web3: ConsenSys executive
Once the contract is created, the developer can deploy it to Polygon using a “no-code” console provided as part of the platform, according to the announcement. This means that the developer does not need to write a “migration” script to deploy the contract when using the Circle platform. According to the announcement, the “codeless” console is not yet available for ethereum or Avalanche.
However, the platform also provides a set of representational state transfer application programming interfaces (REST APIs) for use on these networks, and developers can use them to implement or interact with their contracts. REST APIs are the standard means that developers use to interact with Web2 databases, making them more familiar to developers who have never built Web3 applications.
Circle plans to make both the “no-code” console and REST APIs available to more networks in the future, according to the announcement.
According to the platform docs, developers can also use it to implement a custom contract that does not use one of the templates, although in this case they must provide the compiled bytecode. Still, even in this case, the developer avoids the need to write a deployment script, as this can be handled by the console or by REST APIs.
Circle also announced a second feature for developers called “Gas Station.” It allows Web3 application developers to pay their users’ gas fees. This potentially allows developers to onboard users more easily, as it prevents users from needing to pre-fund their wallets with a network’s native currency.
Gas Station uses ethereum‘s account abstraction feature to implement these gasless transactions. The super app Grab has already implemented the new feature, which allows users not to pay for gas when redeemer nft vouchers, according to the announcement.
