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Dataset · checked 21 Oct 2026

Crypto network fees for paying a gift card: USDT TRC-20 vs ERC-20, BTC, SOL, LTC (Oct 2026)

Last updated: · 10 min read

Quick answer

On 21 Oct 2026, the least expensive way to spend USDT on a gift card was USDT ERC-20, at about US$0.02 in gas, while USDT TRC-20 from a wallet without staked energy cost 6.43 TRX (about US$2.14). Across all coins, SOL was the least expensive route at about US$0.0005 per transfer and LTC came next at under US$0.001. Bitcoin cost US$0.12–0.36. Gifts With Crypto sells cards at face value, no KYC up to US$1,000.

Headline numbers (checked 21 Oct 2026, 18:29–18:39 UTC)

Least expensive route on-chainSOL: 5,000 lamports base fee, about US$0.0005
Least expensive USDT routeERC-20: about US$0.02 in ETH gas; 0.46 USDT to withdraw from OKX
Most expensive route on-chainUSDT TRC-20 without staked energy: 6.4285 TRX, about US$2.14
USDT TRC-20 with staked energy0–0.345 TRX (US$0–0.11)
Bitcoin140–420 sats (1–3 sat/vB), about US$0.12–0.36
Least expensive exchange withdrawalLTC at Binance: 0.0001 LTC, about US$0.006
Dearest exchange withdrawalBTC at Binance: 0.00002 BTC, about US$1.69
Gifts With Crypto markup0%: a US$50 card costs US$50

Network fees for all 7 payment routes

Routes are sorted from least expensive to most expensive on-chain fee. USD values use CoinGecko prices at 18:29 UTC on 21 Oct 2026 (BTC US$84,704, ETH US$2,516.28, SOL US$108.86, LTC US$62.22, TRX US$0.33268).

On-chain fee = one payment sent from your own wallet. Withdrawal fee = flat fee charged by the exchange, from its public fee page.
RouteTypical on-chain fee≈ USDBinance withdrawalKraken withdrawalOKX withdrawalConfirmations we requireTypical time to confirm
SOL · Solana5,000–9,000 lamports (0.000005–0.000009 SOL)US$0.0005–0.0010.001 SOL (US$0.11)0.005 SOL (US$0.54)0.00023 SOL (US$0.025)1Under 1 s (200 ms slots)
LTC · Litecoin140–1,400 litoshis (1–10 lit/vB × 140 vB)US$0.0001–0.00090.0001 LTC (US$0.006)0.002 LTC (US$0.12)0.001 LTC (US$0.06)6~15 min (2.5-min blocks)
ETH · Ethereum21,000 gas × 0.135 gwei = 0.0000028 ETHUS$0.0070.00015 ETH (US$0.38)0.00015 ETH (US$0.38)0.00013 ETH (US$0.33)12~2.4 min (12 s slots)
USDT · Ethereum (ERC-20)65,000 gas × 0.135 gwei = 0.0000088 ETH (a USDT transfer uses 54,128 gas)US$0.020.6 USDT0.7404 USDT0.46 USDT12~2.4 min (12 s slots)
USDC · Ethereum (ERC-20)65,000 gas × 0.135 gwei = 0.0000088 ETHUS$0.020.6 USDC0.7495 USDC0.86 USDC12~2.4 min (12 s slots)
BTC · Bitcoin140–420 sats (1–3 sat/vB × 140 vB)US$0.12–0.360.00002 BTC (US$1.69)0.000015 BTC (US$1.27)0.000015 BTC (US$1.27)2~20 min (10-min blocks)
USDT · Tron (TRC-20)6.4285 TRX without staked energy; 0–0.345 TRX with energyUS$2.14 (US$0–0.11 with energy)1.5 USDT1 USDT1.5 USDT20~1 min (3 s blocks)

Prices checked on

Fees change every block. Your wallet or exchange shows the final fee before you confirm.

What is the least expensive way to spend USDT on a gift card?

USDT ERC-20 was the least expensive USDT route on 21 Oct 2026. Ethereum gas sat at 0.135 gwei on Etherscan, so a USDT transfer of 54,128 gas cost about 0.0000073 ETH (US$0.018). The same payment on Tron burned 6.4285 TRX (US$2.14) from a wallet without staked energy.

The order holds at the exchanges too. ERC-20 withdrawals cost 0.46 USDT at OKX, 0.6 USDT at Binance and 0.7404 USDT at Kraken. TRC-20 withdrawals cost 1 USDT at Kraken and 1.5 USDT at Binance and OKX.

TRC-20 still wins in one case: your Tron wallet has enough staked or delegated energy. Then the transfer costs 0 TRX, or 0.345 TRX once the 600 free daily bandwidth is used. Both routes are accepted: see pay with USDT ERC-20 and pay with USDT TRC-20.

How much does a USDT TRC-20 transfer cost?

A plain USDT transfer used 64,285 energy and 345 bandwidth on 22 transfers we measured at 18:29 UTC. Tron burns 100 sun per missing energy unit and 1,000 sun per missing bandwidth byte (1 TRX = 1,000,000 sun).

Wallet situationEnergy usedTRX burned≈ USD
No staked energy, recipient already holds USDT64,2856.4285 TRXUS$2.14
No staked energy, recipient holds no USDT130,28513.0285 TRXUS$4.33
No staked energy, free bandwidth used up64,285 + 345 bandwidth6.7735 TRXUS$2.25
Enough staked energy, free bandwidth left64,285 (from stake)0 TRXUS$0
Enough staked energy, free bandwidth used up64,285 (from stake) + 345 bandwidth0.345 TRXUS$0.11

Prices checked on

Chain parameters from TronGrid: getEnergyFee 100, getTransactionFee 1,000, getFreeNetLimit 600. The fee is paid in TRX, never in USDT.

Which route is least expensive when you pay from an exchange?

LTC is the least expensive coin to withdraw at Binance (0.0001 LTC, US$0.006) and Kraken (0.002 LTC, US$0.12); SOL is least expensive at OKX (0.00023 SOL, US$0.025). BTC is the dearest at Binance and Kraken: 0.000015–0.00002 BTC (US$1.27–1.69), 3.5 to 14 times the on-chain fee. At OKX, USDT TRC-20 (1.5 USDT) costs a little more than BTC.

Exchanges usually deduct the withdrawal fee from the amount you type. Add the fee on top so the exact invoice amount arrives. Check the minimum too: OKX will not send less than 10 USDT on TRC-20.

Minimum withdrawal per exchange

RouteBinanceKrakenOKX
SOL · Solana0.01 SOL0.011 SOL0.002 SOL
LTC · Litecoin0.002 LTC0.01 LTC0.02 LTC
ETH · Ethereum0.002 ETH0.00018 ETH0.002 ETH
USDT · Ethereum (ERC-20)3 USDT0.88848 USDT2 USDT
USDC · Ethereum (ERC-20)5 USDC0.8994 USDC2 USDC
BTC · Bitcoin0.0001 BTC0.000218 BTC0.0001 BTC
USDT · Tron (TRC-20)5 USDT6 USDT10 USDT

Prices checked on

OKX figures come from its United States fee page. The OKX Europe page lists the same BTC, ETH, USDC, SOL and LTC fees and does not list USDT.

How long does each route take to confirm?

Solana confirms fastest and Bitcoin slowest. Solana slots last 200 ms since 9 Oct 2026, and we need 1 confirmation. Tron makes a block every 3 seconds, so our 20 confirmations take about 1 minute. Ethereum slots last 12 seconds, so 12 confirmations take about 2.4 minutes for ETH, USDT ERC-20 and USDC.

Litecoin blocks arrive every 2.5 minutes, so 6 confirmations take about 15 minutes. Bitcoin blocks average 10 minutes, so 2 confirmations take about 20 minutes, sometimes far more. Your code is delivered in your account within 24 hours of the final confirmation. See how it works.

Download the data (CC BY 4.0)

Licence: CC BY 4.0 — cite “Gifts With Crypto (cardcrrr LLC)” with a link to this page.

Can I reuse this fee table?

The JSON and CSV files hold the same 7 rows, with a source URL and check date for every figure.

Network fee questions

What is the least expensive way to spend USDT on a gift card?

On 21 Oct 2026, USDT ERC-20 was least expensive. From your own wallet it cost about 0.0000088 ETH (US$0.02) in gas, against 6.43 TRX (US$2.14) on TRC-20 without staked energy. From an exchange, ERC-20 cost 0.46 USDT at OKX, 0.6 at Binance and 0.7404 at Kraken, below the 1–1.5 USDT TRC-20 fees. TRC-20 wins only if your Tron wallet has staked or delegated energy.

How much does a USDT TRC-20 transfer cost?

A USDT TRC-20 transfer uses 64,285 energy. Without staked energy, Tron burns 6.4285 TRX, about US$2.14 on 21 Oct 2026. Sending to an address that holds no USDT uses 130,285 energy, or 13.0285 TRX (US$4.33). With enough staked energy the cost drops to 0–0.345 TRX. Exchanges charge a flat 1–1.5 USDT instead.

Which crypto has the lowest fee for paying a gift card?

SOL had the lowest fee on 21 Oct 2026: 5,000 lamports base fee, about US$0.0005, and 9,000 lamports at the 75th percentile. LTC came second at 140–1,400 litoshis, under US$0.001. ETH cost about US$0.007. All three were far cheaper than BTC (US$0.12–0.36) and USDT TRC-20 without energy (US$2.14).

Why does my exchange charge more than the network fee?

An exchange withdrawal fee is a flat charge set by the exchange, not the live network cost. For BTC, Binance charged 0.00002 BTC (US$1.69) while the network needed 140–420 sats (US$0.12–0.36). Exchanges usually deduct the fee from the amount you type, so add it to the invoice amount.

Does Gifts With Crypto add a payment fee?

No. Gifts With Crypto sells gift cards at face value with 0% markup: a US$50 card costs US$50 in crypto at the invoice rate. The network fee goes to miners or validators, and any withdrawal fee goes to your exchange. Compare full costs on our pricing page.

How often is this fee table updated?

This edition was checked on 21 Oct 2026 between 18:29 and 18:39 UTC. Each new edition gets a new dated file, such as network-fees-2026-10-21.json, so older figures stay citable. Live fees can move within minutes, so check your wallet's final screen before you send.

Pick a card, then pick the least expensive route

Every card is sold at face value. Pay with BTC, USDT (TRC-20 or ERC-20), USDC, ETH, SOL or LTC, no KYC up to US$1,000.

Browse gift cards
Sources (all checked 21 Oct 2026) (25)
  1. CoinGecko API: simple/price (BTC, ETH, SOL, LTC, TRX, USDT, USDC in USD) — CoinGecko (2026-10-21)
  2. Recommended fees API (sat/vB) — mempool.space (2026-10-21)
  3. Recent blocks API (median fee rates) — mempool.space (2026-10-21)
  4. FAQ - Bitcoin (Why do I have to wait for confirmation?) — Bitcoin.org (2026-10-21)
  5. Ethereum Gas Tracker — Etherscan (2026-10-21)
  6. Ethereum gas and fees: technical overview — ethereum.org (2026-10-21)
  7. Proof-of-stake (PoS) — ethereum.org (2026-10-21)
  8. wallet/getchainparameters (getEnergyFee, getTransactionFee, getFreeNetLimit) — TronGrid (2026-10-21)
  9. Paying for resources & Energy sharing — TRON Developer Hub (2026-10-21)
  10. Resource Model — TRON Developer Hub (2026-10-21)
  11. Consensus and DPoS — TRON Developer Hub (2026-10-21)
  12. USDT transfer: 64,285 energy, 6.4285 TRX burned — TronScan (2026-10-21)
  13. USDT transfer to an address without USDT: 130,285 energy, 13.0285 TRX burned — TronScan (2026-10-21)
  14. USDT transfer paid with staked energy: 0.345 TRX bandwidth fee — TronScan (2026-10-21)
  15. USDT transfer paid with staked energy and free bandwidth: 0 TRX — TronScan (2026-10-21)
  16. Fees — Solana (2026-10-21)
  17. getBlock RPC method (fee sample, slots 459,732,818–459,732,820) — Solana (2026-10-21)
  18. Reduced Slot Times — Solana (2026-10-21)
  19. Recommended fees API (lit/vB) — litecoinspace.org (2026-10-21)
  20. Recent blocks API (fee-rate percentiles) — litecoinspace.org (2026-10-21)
  21. Bitcoin vs Litecoin: What are the differences — Litecoin Foundation (2026-10-21)
  22. Crypto Deposit & Withdrawal Fees — Binance (2026-10-21)
  23. Cryptocurrency withdrawal fees and minimums — Kraken (2026-10-21)
  24. Crypto Withdrawal Fees & Supported Tokens (United States) — OKX (2026-10-21)
  25. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) — Creative Commons (2026-10-21)