Ethereum Scaling System Immutable X Allowing Ether-to-Dollar Withdrawals

Ethereum scaling system Immutable X is allowing users to receive U.S. dollars in their bank accounts on ether (ETH) withdrawals, its developers said this week.

The ability to convert from ether to dollars is available to any developer building on Immutable. Developers can enable their users to sell layer 2-based ether and have the proceeds deposited directly into their bank accounts.

Decentralized layer 2 systems like Immutable X enable faster, cheaper and more energy-efficient transactions than the Ethereum mainnet. As per developer documents, Immutable can process more than 9,000 transactions per second (tps), while the Ethereum network averages 10.54 tps, as of Thursday morning.

This system appears to be one of the first instances of a layer 2, or subsidiary blockchain, application allowing users to directly withdraw ether holdings to U.S. dollars. The fiat transactions are processed via crypto payments firm MoonPay.

The withdrawal service is currently available only in the European Union, the U.K. and select U.S. states.

Immutable founder Robbie Ferguson told CoinDesk that the service comes at a time when the crypto community faces troubles with centralized crypto lenders.

“Centralized products failing over the past six months have made painstakingly clear the importance of decentralized ownership,” Ferguson said in a Twitter message. “Now anyone can take their ETH and receive USD in their bank accounts.”

Withdrawals on popular but centralized crypto-lending products, such as Celsius, remain paused on crypto market contagion risk in June stemming from the collapse of terraUSD (UST) in mid-May and crypto fund Three Arrows Capital in June.