Korean blockchain project ICON unveils new transaction fee system

ICON, one of the largest blockchain projects in South Korea, today has unveiled ‘Fee 2.0’ – the new transaction fee system of the ICON Network.

As ‘Fee 2.0’ has been published on the ICON mainnet, users can now access ICON DApp (Decentralized Application) services more conveniently without paying transaction fees.

Previously, all DApp users were required to pay cryptocurrency fees starting from their initial uses of services. That meant that DApps could only be used by those holding a certain amount of cryptocurrency, and therefore presented a challenge in the sense that customers had to solely bear the burden of creating a wallet and buying cryptocurrency.

In order to solve this issue, ICON has designed the Fee 2.0 system in order to resolve this inconvenience and dramatically reduce the fees incurred in using and operating DApps.

Fee 2.0 consists of two main components: ‘Fee Sharing’ and ‘Virtual Step’

The Fee Sharing feature enables DApp service operators to have the choice to pay transaction fees on behalf of the service users. This greatly improves user convenience by allowing DApp operators who create ‘SCORE (Smart Contract On Reliable Environment, ICON’s own smart contract development environment)’ to pay the transaction fees incurred in using the services.

ICON is also implementing Virtual Step in line with Fee Sharing in order to reduce the burden of DApp operators who need to pay fees on behalf of the service users. The Virtual Step feature enables DApp service operators to pay fees with the ‘Virtual Steps’ generated through an ICX (ICON’s cryptocurrency) staking process.

If DApp operators deposit ICX to their own SCOREs for a certain period of time, this deposit action will generate Virtual Steps that can be used to pay transaction fees. Virtual Step is generated every month in proportion with the quantity of ICX deposited and the duration of the deposit period.

“ICON is a DApp-friendly blockchain, providing a wide range of support in order to help developers create convenient and innovative DApps in an optimal environment. With ‘Fee 2.0’, which innovatively improves user experience, more DApps will be actively operated and used and the expansion of the ICON’s DApp ecosystem will be realized.”
– Min Kim, Council Member of the ICON Foundation