USDT on TRC-20, ERC-20, BEP-20 and more: which networks should you accept?
"USDT" is not one token but one dollar stablecoin issued by Tether on many blockchains. A customer who says they will pay in USDT also has to pick a network, and USDT on TRON cannot be received as USDT on Ethereum. easyway accepts USDT on 7 networks. This post compares them from a merchant's side, so you can decide which ones to offer.
The networks side by side
All values below are the ones the gateway uses today. Confirmations are the blocks a payment must wait before it counts; the withdrawal fee is the flat network fee charged when you move that balance out; the minimum is the smallest withdrawal.
| Network | Asset id | Confirmations | Withdrawal fee | Min. withdrawal | How a payment is matched |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TRON · TRC-20 | USDT_TRC20 | 19 | 1 USDT | 0.5 USDT | own address per invoice |
| BNB Smart Chain · BEP-20 | USDT_BEP20 | 15 | 0.1 USDT | 0.5 USDT | own address per invoice |
| TON · Jetton | USDT_TON | 1 | 0.1 USDT | 0.5 USDT | shared address + memo |
| Ethereum · ERC-20 | USDT_ERC20 | 12 | 1.5 USDT | 0.5 USDT | own address per invoice |
| Solana · SPL | USDT_SOL | 1 | 0.3 USDT | 0.5 USDT | own address per invoice |
| Polygon · PoS | USDT_POLYGON | 64 | 0.1 USDT | 0.5 USDT | own address per invoice |
| Avalanche · C-Chain | USDT_AVAX | 10 | 0.1 USDT | 0.5 USDT | own address per invoice |
What does not change between networks: USDT is valued at exactly 1 USD on every one of them, and the 0.5% processing fee is the same. So a $100 invoice asks for 100 USDT whichever network the customer picks.
What the customer needs on each network
Sending a token costs a network fee, paid in the network's own coin: TRX on TRON, ETH on Ethereum, BNB on BNB Smart Chain, POL on Polygon, AVAX on Avalanche, SOL on Solana and Gram on TON. A customer paying from their own wallet needs a little of that coin next to their USDT. A customer paying straight from an exchange withdrawal does not — the exchange pays the network fee and usually charges its own withdrawal fee instead. This is why exchange users often reach for TRC-20 or BEP-20, and why Ethereum is the expensive choice for small payments.
Own address or memo
On most networks every invoice gets its own deposit address, so the customer only has to send the right amount to the right address. On TON it works differently: every invoice is paid to one shared address and a numeric memo (the transfer comment) tells the payments apart. A transfer without the memo cannot be matched to an order automatically, so the checkout shows the memo with a warning and its QR code fills it in. The USDT on TON page explains what happens when a memo is missing.
On BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum, Polygon and Avalanche the deposit address has the same 0x… format, and a wallet will happily send on any of them. An invoice only watches the network it was created for, and a transfer on another of these chains is not credited to it. The checkout names the network next to the address; make sure your own order page does the same if you show the address there.
After the payment: balances and withdrawals
Each network is a separate balance. USDT received on TRON stays USDT on TRON until you withdraw it to one of your whitelisted wallets on TRON; there is no automatic move between networks. Until you withdraw, easyway holds the balance for you. The withdrawal fee follows the network: the lowest is 0.1 USDT (on BNB Smart Chain, TON, Polygon and Avalanche), the highest 1.5 USDT on Ethereum, because Ethereum gas costs more. If you collect many small payments on Ethereum, withdraw them in fewer, larger amounts.
One technical difference you never have to handle yourself: USDT on BNB Smart Chain uses 18 decimals, while the others use 6. The API always takes and returns amounts as decimal strings such as "100.00", so your code is the same for every network.
Which ones to offer
Offer the networks your customers already use, and let them pick at checkout. A sensible default for most merchants is TRON and BNB Smart Chain for exchange users, plus Solana or TON for customers with those wallets; add Ethereum if larger payments come from Ethereum wallets. One invoice can offer several networks at once: "allowed_assets": ["USDT_TRC20", "USDT_BEP20", "USDT_SOL"]. Each network has its own page with the contract address and the details: TRON, BNB Smart Chain, TON, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and Avalanche. If you are still choosing between stablecoins, read USDT vs USDC; for code, the USDT TRC-20 guide works for any asset id in the table above.