How a network fee is set
Each block has limited room, and those who build blocks pick the transactions that pay most. The sender, or the sender's wallet, chooses a fee high enough to be picked within the time it is willing to wait.
The unit differs by network. Bitcoin prices a transaction by its size in bytes, Ethereum by the computation it needs, measured in gas, and other networks by their own resource models. On most networks the fee is paid in the network's own coin, even when the transaction moves a token.
The fee does not depend on the amount sent: an identical transaction costs the same whether it moves 10 or 10 million.
How platforms handle network fees
A platform pays the network fee on every withdrawal and on every sweep from deposit addresses to its main wallets. Most charge customers a withdrawal fee per asset and network, fixed or updated with the market, and book the difference as income or cost.
Transfers between two customers of the same platform are entries on its own ledger and pay no network fee at all. For the rest, operators keep the bill down with:
- Batching: several withdrawals in one transaction
- Fee estimation: reading recent blocks to price each transaction
- Replacement: resending a stuck transaction with a higher fee
- Network choice: offering the same stablecoin on a cheaper network
Network fee, trading fee or withdrawal fee?
- Trading fee
- Charged by an exchange on each trade, as a percentage. Nothing reaches the blockchain.
- Withdrawal fee
- Set by the platform to cover the network fee, and sometimes more.
- Gas
- The unit in which Ethereum-style networks measure the work behind a network fee.
Where a network fee shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- Custody & walletsWallets on every major chain, with MPC custody from leading providers or your own keys.
- LedgerThe double-entry book of record behind every balance, fee and transfer.
- PayoutsMoney out to bank accounts, cards and wallets, on the rail that fits each payment.