CPN

How-to: Grant USDC Allowance to Permit2

For Transactions V2, there is a dependency on the Permit2 contract to enable allowance management. To get the benefits of Transactions V2, you must grant a USDC token allowance to the Permit2 contract. This guide shows two examples of how to grant a USDC token allowance to the Permit2 contract. The Permit2 documentation provides additional examples of how to grant this allowance.

The examples on this page show how to grant a USDC token allowance to the Permit2 contract using a Circle Wallets developer-controlled wallet or a generic EIP-1193 Ethereum wallet. Before you begin, ensure you have:

  • If you are following the Circle Wallets example:

  • Node.js and npm installed on your development machine

  • A project set up as described in the below section

  1. Initialize a new Node.js project and install dependencies:

    Shell
    npm init -y
    npm pkg set type=module
    npm install viem dotenv
    
  2. In the project root, create a .env file and add the following variables:

    Shell
    USDC_CONTRACT_ADDRESS=<USDC_CONTRACT_ADDRESS>
    PERMIT2_CONTRACT_ADDRESS=<PERMIT2_CONTRACT_ADDRESS>
    APPROVAL_AMOUNT=<APPROVAL_AMOUNT>
    WALLET_ADDRESS=<WALLET_ADDRESS>
    

    If you are following the Circle Wallets example, you will also need to add the following variables:

    Shell
    CIRCLE_WALLET_ID=<CIRCLE_WALLET_ID>
    CIRCLE_WALLETS_API_KEY=<CIRCLE_WALLETS_API_KEY>
    ENTITY_SECRET=<ENTITY_SECRET>
    

    If you are following the EIP-1193 Ethereum wallet example, or your Circle Wallet is on the generic EVM / EVM-TESTNET chain, you will also need to add the following variable:

    Shell
    RPC_URL=<RPC_URL>
    
  3. Create an index.js file. You'll add code step by step in the following sections.

The following steps show how to grant a USDC token allowance to the Permit2 contract using a Circle Wallets developer-controlled wallet or an EIP-1193 Ethereum wallet.

Step 1. Grant a USDC token allowance to the Permit2 contract

The following example code shows the process for granting a USDC token allowance to the Permit2 contract using a Circle Wallets developer-controlled wallet or an EIP-1193 Ethereum wallet.

  • Circle Wallets
  • Circle Wallets (generic EVM)
  • EIP-1193 Ethereum Wallet
JavaScript
import { initiateDeveloperControlledWalletsClient } from "@circle-fin/developer-controlled-wallets";
import { randomUUID } from "crypto";
import dotenv from "dotenv";

dotenv.config();

/**
 * Approves a specified amount of USDC for the Permit2 contract using
 * a developer-controlled wallet managed by Circle.
 *
 * This function sends an on-chain transaction to call the ERC-20 `approve`
 * method on the USDC contract, allowing the Permit2 contract to spend
 * the specified amount on behalf of the wallet.
 *
 * @async
 * @function approveUSDCWithCircleWallets
 * @returns {Promise<object>} The transaction response data returned by Circle's API.
 */
export async function approveUSDCWithCircleWallets() {
  const client = initiateDeveloperControlledWalletsClient({
    apiKey: process.env.CIRCLE_WALLETS_API_KEY,
    entitySecret: process.env.ENTITY_SECRET,
  });

  const response = await client.createContractExecutionTransaction({
    walletId: process.env.CIRCLE_WALLET_ID,
    contractAddress: process.env.USDC_CONTRACT_ADDRESS,
    abiFunctionSignature: "approve(address,uint256)",
    abiParameters: [
      process.env.PERMIT2_CONTRACT_ADDRESS,
      process.env.APPROVAL_AMOUNT,
    ],
    idempotencyKey: randomUUID(),
    fee: { type: "level", config: { feeLevel: "MEDIUM" } },
  });

  return response.data;
}

/* -------- Example usage with Circle ---------

// For auth and wallet creation, see: https://developers.circle.com/interactive-quickstarts/dev-controlled-wallets
const response = await approveUSDCWithCircleWallets();
console.log('Response:', response);

---------------------------------- */
Did this page help you?
© 2023-2025 Circle Technology Services, LLC. All rights reserved.