Base network is one of the hottest new chains in crypto, having grown to over $400 million TVL in just 6 months, since launching in August. With Base integrations booming across the DeFi ecosystem, it’s becoming a staple for new and experienced traders alike, but one thing has been holding you back: running out of gas.

Gasless trades and approvals are now live on Base, thanks to Matcha Auto. Sent USDC to Base but don’t have enough Ether to use it? Matcha Auto takes care of the gas so you can get on with your trade. It also executes faster, so you can mint quicker, and stay safe from sandwich attacks.

Matcha Auto is on Base, Ethereum, Arbitrum and Polygon 

What is Matcha Auto

Swapping tokens in Standard mode is quick and free on Matcha, but you always need to have some native gas tokens in your wallet to pay for the transaction. Matcha Auto takes this friction out of the equation to let you move faster without worrying about gas, MEV, or other technical hurdles. 

Matcha Auto is an innovation that gives a whole new Web3 experience by leveraging metatransactions. These are made possible by the 0x Tx Relay API which Matcha uses. By forwarding your swap request to 0x, you get to trade without gas through private channels for a more efficient experience with more competitive rates.

In a relayed transaction, 0x coordinates directly with private market makers, pays the gas for you, and then collects the fee back from the tokens you receive, so you never need to deal with gas again and get the same great rate you would if you used Standard mode. 

What is Base network?

Base is a Layer-2 EVM network that was incubated by Coinbase. Using optimistic rollups, it monitors the Ethereum network state and processes transactions offchain, achieving lower gas fees while still inheriting much of Ethereum’s security. 

Base has begun to occupy fast-growing niches of Web3, with integrations on many major platforms accompanied by a growth focus on apps such as Warpcast, where Base has been an early adopter of Frames technology and a prominent supporter of hackathons, alongside Coinbase Wallet. 

So if you're getting started on Warpcast, you can now stock up on Degen tokens for tips straight from USDC without needing ETH first!

Learn more about Base on Matcha by listening to this recent podcast with DeFi Lead Armand Khatri.

The power of gasless trades

Gas fees are integral to crypto and won’t just disappear, if anything - they’ll get worse. Matcha Auto lets you abstract away the gas, so you don’t have to deal with it. This opens up new possibilities that make crypto more consumer-friendly. You can:

• Complete trades if you run out of Ether. 
• Make approvals at any time.
• Bridge tokens to a new network without a follow-up transaction to send gas. 

How Matcha Auto saves your crypto

Standard swaps on Matcha are free, but Matcha Auto is designed to make life easier, so there must be a catch, right? Actually, Matcha Auto can save you money, especially if you use it frequently. While there is a 0.25% cost for transactions made with Auto, there are several cost-saving benefits:

• Gas savings: no more dust gathered on every chain, no more gas-guzzling cross chain top-ups.
• MEV protection: MEV is a result of transaction inefficiencies and public mempools. Matcha Auto routes transactions in a way that improves execution through private market makers to save you money.
• Improved price execution: get more competitive pricing, lower slippage, and lower trade failure rates.  
• Faster confirmation: block ordering can leave you missing out on key trades, but Matcha Auto relays trades through privileged channels so they are more likely to get into the next block.

And all that for the same price you pay for regular, gassy trades with high revert rates on Uniswap!

No gas needed for approvals

Gasless trades are a key user experience improvement, but if you need gas to approve spending a token first, what’s the point? Matcha Auto makes approvals gasless, too! While competitors like 1inch let you swap without gas, you still need gas to approve it. So if you’ve just sent some USDC to Base, you’re best going to Matcha to approve and spend your crypto in one go, without the friction.

What about gas on other chains?

Matcha Auto is expanding to other chains, recently adding Arbitrum, and others on the horizon. But if you’re out of gas on one of the networks where Matcha Auto is not available, you can easily top up on gas using a cross chain swap. Matcha’s bridge aggregator Socket makes it affordable and fast to move your gas token to a new chain and unblock your trades. Don’t get stranded with tokens you can’t move, start using Matcha today!