diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 14a4d56..04e8849 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ project_urls =
 [options]
 packages = find:
 install_requires =
-    firebolt-sdk
+    firebolt-sdk>=0.8.0
     sqlalchemy>=1.0.0
 python_requires = >=3.6
 package_dir =
diff --git a/src/firebolt_db/firebolt_dialect.py b/src/firebolt_db/firebolt_dialect.py
index b3dafb1..e48f24d 100644
--- a/src/firebolt_db/firebolt_dialect.py
+++ b/src/firebolt_db/firebolt_dialect.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 import firebolt.db as dbapi
 import sqlalchemy.types as sqltypes
+from firebolt.client.auth import UsernamePassword
 from firebolt.db import Cursor
 from sqlalchemy.engine import Connection as AlchemyConnection
 from sqlalchemy.engine import ExecutionContext, default
@@ -101,24 +102,22 @@ def __init__(
     def dbapi(cls) -> ModuleType:
         return dbapi
 
-    # Build firebolt-sdk compatible connection arguments.
-    # URL format : firebolt://username:password@host:port/db_name
     def create_connect_args(self, url: URL) -> Tuple[List, Dict]:
+        """
+        Build firebolt-sdk compatible connection arguments.
+        URL format : firebolt://username:password@host:port/db_name
+        """
+        parameters = dict(url.query)
+        # parameters are all passed as a string, we need to convert
+        # bool flag to boolean for SDK compatibility
+        token_cache_flag = bool(strtobool(parameters.pop("use_token_cache", "True")))
         kwargs = {
             "database": url.host or None,
-            "username": url.username or None,
-            "password": url.password or None,
+            "auth": UsernamePassword(url.username, url.password, token_cache_flag),
             "engine_name": url.database,
         }
-        parameters = dict(url.query)
         if "account_name" in parameters:
             kwargs["account_name"] = parameters.pop("account_name")
-        if "use_token_cache" in parameters:
-            # parameters are all passed as a string, we need to convert it
-            # to boolean for SDK compatibility
-            kwargs["use_token_cache"] = bool(
-                strtobool(parameters.pop("use_token_cache"))
-            )
         self._set_parameters = parameters
         # If URL override is not provided leave it to the sdk to determine the endpoint
         if "FIREBOLT_BASE_URL" in os.environ:
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_firebolt_dialect.py b/tests/unit/test_firebolt_dialect.py
index cd0fcaf..b0a6e43 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_firebolt_dialect.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_firebolt_dialect.py
@@ -38,10 +38,13 @@ def test_create_connect_args(self, dialect: FireboltDialect):
         with mock.patch.dict(os.environ, {"FIREBOLT_BASE_URL": "test_url"}):
             result_list, result_dict = dialect.create_connect_args(u)
             assert result_dict["engine_name"] == "test_engine_name"
-            assert result_dict["username"] == "test_user@email"
-            assert result_dict["password"] == "test_password"
+            assert result_dict["auth"].username == "test_user@email"
+            assert result_dict["auth"].password == "test_password"
+            assert result_dict["auth"]._use_token_cache is True
             assert result_dict["database"] == "test_db_name"
             assert result_dict["api_endpoint"] == "test_url"
+            assert "username" not in result_dict
+            assert "password" not in result_dict
             assert result_list == []
         # No endpoint override
         with mock.patch.dict(os.environ, {}, clear=True):
@@ -74,10 +77,9 @@ def test_create_connect_args_token_cache(
         )
         u = url.make_url(connection_url)
         result_list, result_dict = dialect.create_connect_args(u)
-        assert (
-            "use_token_cache" in result_dict
-        ), "use_token_cache was not parsed correctly from connection string"
-        assert result_dict["use_token_cache"] == expected
+        assert result_dict["auth"].username == "test_user@email"
+        assert result_dict["auth"].password == "test_password"
+        assert result_dict["auth"]._use_token_cache == expected
         assert dialect._set_parameters == {"param1": "1", "param2": "2"}
 
     def test_do_execute(