Stablecoin payments on Arbitrum

Arbitrum is a solid, uncomplicated option for stablecoin payments — the sort of network that does not generate interesting problems.

Practical characteristics

Fees are low enough that they stop being a consideration for typical merchant payments. Confirmation is fast enough that price-lock windows are never at risk. Ethereum compatibility means no new wallet. Native USDC removes the bridged-asset question for the most common coin.

Where it sits relative to Base and Polygon

All three are cheap, fast, Ethereum-compatible layer 2s or sidechains, and for a payer the practical differences are small. Gateway support is the deciding factor and it varies: some merchants enable Base and not Arbitrum, others the reverse.

The sensible approach is to hold stablecoins on whichever of these networks your usual merchants support, rather than picking a favourite in the abstract. Moving between them is possible but costs a bridge fee and time you would rather not spend at a checkout.

Gas, as always

ETH on Arbitrum, not ETH on mainnet. A few dollars covers a large number of transactions. Most exchanges will withdraw ETH directly to Arbitrum, which avoids bridging.