# USDT Transfer Fees by Chain

> USDT transfer fee on each chain, measured from real transfers: median cost in the native token and in USD, the fee model and who paid, for USDT and USDC.

Markdown copy of https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/usdt-transfer-fees-by-chain

**Question:** What does it cost right now to send USDT or USDC on each chain?

- Kind: Table in Voltfin Strata
- Topic: [Stablecoins](https://voltfincrypto.com/topics/stablecoins)
- Chains: Multi-chain, Ethereum, Tron, Solana, BNB Chain, Base, Arbitrum, Plasma
- Status: Planned. The data is not published yet, so this page states no figure; each figure will open its receipt when it is.

The cost of sending a stablecoin depends on the chain far more than on the coin. This table measures what USDT and USDC transfers actually paid on each covered chain over the latest hour, in the chain's native token and in dollars, so networks can be compared on the same terms.

Fees work differently on each chain: a gas price set by an EIP-1559 fee market, a layer 2 fee plus the cost of posting data to Ethereum, Tron's energy and bandwidth, or a sponsor that pays on the sender's behalf. Each row names its fee model and who paid, so a transfer that was free for the sender is not mistaken for one that cost nothing.

Sort by median cost to find the lowest-fee networks and filter by coin or fee model; open a row for the transactions behind it. Only plain transfers are measured, not swaps or bridges. Costs move through the day with demand for block space.

## Blueprint

One row: One row per chain and coin, over the latest complete hour

- **Chain** (`chain`): The network the measured transfers were sent on.
- **Coin** (`coin`): USDT or USDC, linked to the contract measured on that chain.
- **Fee model** (`fee_model`): How the chain charges: fee-market gas, layer 2 gas plus a data fee, energy and bandwidth, or a fee paid in a stablecoin.
- **Median cost, native** (`median_cost_native`, native token): The median fee of a plain transfer in the hour, in the chain's native token.
- **Median cost, USD** (`median_cost_usd`, USD): The same median converted to dollars at the hour's oracle price.
- **Busy-moment cost, USD** (`high_cost_usd`, USD): The ninetieth-percentile fee in dollars: what a transfer at a busy moment of the hour cost.
- **Paid by sender** (`sender_paid_share`): Share of measured transfers whose fee the sender paid, rather than a sponsor or staked resources.
- **Gas or energy used** (`gas_used`): Median gas used per transfer, or energy on Tron, which shows the work each transfer took.
- **Transfers measured** (`transfers`): How many plain transfers of the coin the hour's figures are taken from.
- **Receipt** (`receipt`): The hour, blocks and transactions behind the row.

## How it will be measured

- For each chain and coin, every transaction in the hour whose only token movement is a single transfer of that coin is measured: gas used times effective gas price, plus the L1 data fee on rollups.
- Tron costs come from transfer receipts as energy and bandwidth burned in TRX; Solana costs come from each transaction's base and priority fees.
- Costs are converted to dollars with oracle prices of the native token in the same hour; on chains that charge fees in a stablecoin, the fee is already in dollars.
- Where a protocol paymaster or another sponsor pays, the row shows the sender's cost and the sponsor's cost separately.
- Each row's receipt names the hour, the blocks and the transactions measured.

## Data it needs

- `gas_blocks` (to build): Base fee, priority fee percentiles, gas used and gas limit for each block on fee-market chains, for a near-live gas tracker.
- `chain_fees_daily` (to build): Fees paid per chain per day in the native token: base fee and priority fee percentiles, total fees, and the share burned where the chain burns fees.
- `token_transfers_daily` (to build): ERC-20 and native transfer counts, volume and unique senders and receivers per token per chain per day.
- `native_prices_daily` (to build): Reference prices of major assets read from on-chain oracle feeds (Chainlink latestRoundData) at each day's last block, with each round's update time.
- Source: gas_used and effective_gas_price of transactions that only transfer USDT or USDC, per chain per hour
- Source: The L1 data fee fields on rollup transaction receipts
- Source: Tron transfer receipts: energy and bandwidth burned in TRX
- Source: Solana transaction fees: the base fee and prioritization fee per signature
- Source: Native token prices from Chainlink feeds or deep on-chain pools in the same hour
- Source: Fees paid in stablecoins on chains that charge them, such as Tempo's fee token payments

## Questions

### Which network is cheapest for sending USDT?

Sort the table by median cost in dollars to see the current order. Layer 2s, Solana and chains built for stablecoins usually cost least for a plain transfer and Ethereum mainnet costs more; Tron's cost depends on whether the sender has energy.

### Why is a USDT transfer on Ethereum more expensive than on a layer 2?

Ethereum mainnet blocks hold a limited amount of computation, so users bid for space through the base fee. Layer 2s run transfers off mainnet and post them to Ethereum in batches, so each transfer carries only a small share of that cost.

### Which costs less to send, TRC-20 or ERC-20 USDT?

It depends. A TRC-20 transfer costs little or nothing for an account with staked or rented energy and more for one burning TRX, while an ERC-20 transfer's cost follows Ethereum's base fee. The table shows both, measured over the same hour.

### Why can a transfer be free for the sender?

Some chains and wallets sponsor fees: a protocol paymaster can pay the gas for simple stablecoin transfers, and smart accounts can let an app pay. The chain still charges the fee; someone other than the sender pays it, which the table shows.

### Do USDT and USDC cost the same to send on one chain?

Close, but not always. Each token's contract does slightly different work on a transfer, so the gas used can differ a little. Some chains also sponsor transfers of only one coin.

## Glossary

- **Effective gas price**: The price per unit of gas a transaction actually paid, the base fee plus its tip.
- **L1 data fee**: The part of a rollup transaction's fee that pays for posting its data to Ethereum.
- **Paymaster**: A contract that pays transaction fees on a user's behalf, used by smart accounts and by some chains to sponsor stablecoin transfers.

## Related apps

- [USDT TRC20 Transfer Fee Tracker: Tron Energy Cost](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/usdt-trc20-transfer-fee)
- [Cheapest Blockchain Fees: Median Cost per Transaction](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/cheapest-blockchain-fees)
- [Ethereum L2 Fees Compared: Cost per Transaction](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/ethereum-l2-fees)
- [Stablechain Tracker: Plasma, Tempo, Arc and Stable](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/stablechain-tracker)
- [Blockchain Fees by Chain: Daily Totals](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/blockchain-fees-by-chain)
- [Stablecoin Market Cap and Total Supply](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/stablecoin-market-cap)

Build it in Voltfin Studio: https://app.voltfincrypto.com/signup?next=%2F