Can Blockchain Work Without Its Own Cryptocurrency?

<> does not provide investment advice; this material is published solely for informational purposes. Cryptocurrency is a volatile asset that can lead to financial losses.

Bitcoin has BTC, Ethereum has ETH, and Solana has SOL. These coins are not just traded on exchanges; they are integral to the operation of their networks: they are used to pay for transactions, reward participants, and sometimes serve as collateral for operations.

However, blockchain can be structured differently. Base operates with ETH instead of its own mandatory coin. Corporate networks can function without cryptocurrency altogether. In some applications, the user may not even see what technically pays for their transaction.

Why Pay for a Transaction?

Every public network has a load limit. Each operation needs to be verified, included in a block, and its result stored.

If transactions can be sent for free and without limits, the network can easily be overwhelmed with junk requests. Fees make such an attack more expensive: a million unnecessary operations turn into a million paid operations.

Base deliberately maintains a minimal transaction fee even under low load. Among the reasons, the network cites protection against spam. The documentation provides a calculation: with ETH at $2000, the minimum base part of a typical operation is about $0.002. For a single user, this is an insignificant amount, but mass meaningless spam turns it into a serious problem.

When there are more people wanting to conduct operations than can fit in a block, the fee serves another function. Users start competing for limited space. Those who need a transfer faster can pay more.

Thus, the fee is not only the earnings of network participants; it is also the price of access to a limited resource.

In Ethereum, the Coin Protects the Network

In the Ethereum network, ETH is needed not only by users. To independently launch a validator—a participant who confirms the state of the network—you need to deposit at least 32 ETH. The validator receives rewards for correct operation, but the deposited coins simultaneously become collateral.

There are small penalties for ordinary connection failures. For serious violations, such as confirming conflicting versions of the chain, part of the collateral is destroyed, and the validator is excluded from operation.

The size of the losses depends on the scale of the violation. If many validators violate the rules simultaneously, the penalty sharply increases and can affect their entire accounted collateral in a large attack.

The meaning is simple: by violating the network rules, a participant risks their own ETH. The coin here becomes part of the security system. If this collateral is removed, another way must be devised to make an attack costly.

Who Pays Those Who Support the Network?

A public network operates thanks to independent participants who are not employees of a single company. Miners and validators still need to pay for equipment, internet, and electricity.

Bitcoin settles with miners in BTC. For a found block, a miner receives new coins and user fees. After the halving in 2024, the new reward amount is 3.125 BTC per block. The rules of the Bitcoin network halve this amount every 210,000 blocks—approximately every four years.

This allows the network to pay participants automatically. There is no company that must contract with each miner and transfer dollars from a bank account.

In Solana, fees are paid in SOL. The base rate is 5000 lamports—the smallest parts of SOL—for signing a transaction. Under high load, a user can additionally pay for a higher priority operation.

SOL is also used in staking: owners transfer coins to validators who support the network's operation, and the rewards are distributed among participants. In such systems, the coin is not an external financial instrument; it is embedded in the payment of the infrastructure itself.

Blockchain Can Operate Without Cryptocurrency

Let’s consider another example. The Hyperledger Fabric blockchain platform is used for closed networks where participants are known in advance. Such a ledger can be jointly maintained by banks, logistics companies, or manufacturers.

Each organization receives a digital identity, and the rules define who is allowed to send transactions, read data, or manage the system. This blockchain allows operation without its own cryptocurrency. There is no need to pay for mining with a token or to buy a coin to run programs within the network.

The reason lies in a different trust model. If an unknown person attacks the Ethereum network, they cannot simply be removed from the client list: there is no such list. In a corporate network, participants are known. A violator can be identified, their rights limited, or contractual conditions applied.

Company server costs can also be shared through regular payments. The blockchain remains a blockchain. Economic incentives are simply replaced by an access system and agreements between known participants.

Base Operates Without Its Own Mandatory Coin

Base is a public network built on Ethereum. Users can freely launch applications and transfer assets, but the fees are paid in ETH. A separate Base token for conducting regular operations has not yet been required.

When the network launched in 2023, the team stated that it did not need to issue its own token. Only in September 2025 did Base first announce that it began exploring such a possibility. However, no timelines or the structure of the future coin were disclosed.

This example is indicative: a public blockchain can operate for several years, develop applications, and serve users without its own mandatory cryptocurrency. It needs a way to pay for the network's operation, but it is not necessary to issue a new asset for that. Base uses the already existing ETH.

A User May Not Need the SOL Token at All

Even when a coin is necessary for the network itself, the end user is not always required to hold it. In Solana, each transaction is ultimately paid in SOL. But the payment can be made by an application or another account.

For example, a person received 100 USDC in a new wallet. They do not have SOL. In a typical scheme, sending those 100 USDC further would not be possible: first, they need to acquire some SOL for the fee.

Solana allows designating another account as the payer. The user confirms the transfer of their USDC, while the application separately pays the network fee. There is also a ready-made service called Kora. It can pay the fee on behalf of the client or accept another token from them, such as USDC, and settle with Solana in SOL.

For the network, nothing has changed: it received the necessary SOL. But the person no longer needs to buy a second coin just for one transfer.

How This Looks in a Regular Wallet

The Celo blockchain makes it even easier: fees can be paid directly with supported stablecoins, including USDC and USDT, instead of the main coin CELO. This means that a user can receive USDC and use the same USDC to pay for sending funds. There is no need to separately look for CELO.

This scheme works in MiniPay—a mobile wallet that supports USDm, USDT, and USDC. MiniPay manages the stablecoin that the user has. For the person, it looks almost like a regular payment application. Digital dollars are in the account, and they can be used as well. The technical economy of the blockchain does not disappear; it is simply hidden from the user.

How to Understand Whether the Network Really Needs a Token

Ethereum, Bitcoin, Base, and Hyperledger demonstrate four different models.

If you remove ETH from Ethereum, the collateral of validators will disappear, and the system of economic security will have to be rebuilt from scratch. If you remove BTC from Bitcoin, there will be no way to automatically reward miners according to the current rules. Base already operates without its own coin, using ETH instead. Hyperledger Fabric shows that in a closed network, a market token may not be needed at all.

Therefore, when evaluating a new cryptocurrency, one should ask a crucial question: what exactly will stop working if this token is removed? If fees, participant rewards, or network protection disappear without it, the coin is embedded in the core mechanics of the blockchain.

If the network continues to operate almost the same way, and the token is mainly used for voting, discounts, or other additional functions, its connection to the infrastructure itself is much weaker.