ETH-Only Payments vs Multi-Chain Asset Acceptance

Maximizes Ethereum's security: Leverages the $500B+ secured base layer with 1M+ validators. This matters for high-value, compliance-sensitive transactions where finality is non-negotiable. Deep ecosystem integration: Native compatibility with ERC-20, ERC-4337 (account abstraction), and major DeFi protocols like Uniswap and Aave, simplifying development and user experience.

Single gas currency: All fees are paid in ETH, simplifying treasury management and user cost estimation. This matters for budgeting and UX. Unified liquidity: Concentrates TVL and reduces fragmentation; over 90% of DeFi's $100B+ TVL is on Ethereum L1/L2s. Avoids the complexity of cross-chain bridges and their associated risks for a streamlined payment flow.

Access to native communities: Accept SOL, USDC on Solana, MATIC, AVAX, etc., to capture users who hold assets outside Ethereum. This matters for mass-market apps and emerging markets. Lower fee alternatives: Leverage chains like Solana ($0.001 avg fee) or Polygon ($0.01 avg fee) for micro-transactions and high-frequency payments where Ethereum's base fees are prohibitive.

Bridge and validator set risk: Introducing dependencies on protocols like Wormhole, LayerZero, or Axelar adds smart contract and governance risk. This matters for custodial services and institutional flows. Operational overhead: Requires managing multiple RPC endpoints, gas wallets, and chain-specific tooling (e.g., Solana's Phantom SDK vs. Ethereum's Ethers.js). Increases devops and support costs significantly.

Single Asset Focus: Reduces smart contract complexity, security audit surface, and treasury management overhead. You manage one liquidity pool (e.g., Uniswap V3 for ETH) instead of multiple cross-chain bridges and wrapped asset contracts. This matters for lean teams prioritizing security and speed to market.

Leverages Ethereum's Base Layer: Transactions use native ETH, eliminating bridge risk (e.g., Wormhole, Multichain) and wrapped asset de-pegs. Enables seamless composability with major DeFi primitives like Aave, Compound, and MakerDAO that are ETH-native. This is critical for high-value transactions and protocol-to-protocol integrations.

Broaden Your Addressable Market: Accept USDC on Arbitrum, MATIC on Polygon, and SOL on Solana to capture users who hold assets outside Ethereum L1. Tools like Socket, LayerZero, and Circle's CCTP facilitate cross-chain settlement. Choose this for consumer apps, gaming, or protocols targeting cost-sensitive users on L2s.

Optimize for Transaction Economics: Settle payments on chains with lower fees (<$0.01 on Polygon, Arbitrum) and higher throughput than Ethereum L1. This matters for micro-transactions, high-frequency interactions, or social/gaming dApps where UX is dictated by cost and speed. Requires managing bridge liquidity and monitoring multiple chain states.

Largest DeFi Ecosystem: Access to $50B+ in TVL and battle-tested protocols like Uniswap, Aave, and Compound. This matters for deep liquidity and composability.

Superior Tooling: Industry-standard tooling (Hardhat, Foundry), security audits, and the largest developer community (4,000+ monthly active devs). This reduces integration risk and speeds up development.

Unified Gas Model: All transactions and smart contract interactions are priced in ETH, simplifying treasury management and financial forecasting.

Reduced Integration Overhead: No need for cross-chain bridges, asset wrappers, or multi-RPC management. This significantly lowers engineering complexity and operational risk from bridge exploits.

Lower Barrier to Entry: Accept SOL, USDC on Polygon, AVAX, etc., to capture users who hold assets on high-throughput, low-fee chains. This matters for mass-market dApps and gaming where onboarding friction is critical.

Tap into Native Communities: Directly engage with ecosystems like Solana (2K+ TPS), Polygon PoS, and Avalanche C-Chain, which have their own thriving user bases and capital.

Hedge Against Congestion: Avoid being locked into a single network's fee market or performance issues. Route payments through the most efficient chain at any given time.

Modular Architecture: Build with cross-chain messaging protocols (LayerZero, Axelar, Wormhole) and asset abstraction standards. This prepares your protocol for an inherently multi-chain future and emerging L2s like Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync.