Tron, Ethereum, Solana or Base: which network to use for USDT and USDC payments
Send on the network your recipient names, as long as your side supports it. USDT moves mostly on Tron and Ethereum, most USDC sits on Ethereum, and costs differ far more by network than by token.
By Pavel Skalin, Founder & CEO, Align · Reviewed by the Align compliance team
Updated · 6 min read
The short answer
Send on the network the recipient names, and only if your own wallet or provider supports it too. When you're free to choose, USDT mostly moves on Tron and Ethereum, which hold about 90% of its supply. USDC sits mostly on Ethereum, followed by Solana, Hyperliquid and Base. Costs and confirmation times differ far more between networks than between the two tokens.
Where USDT and USDC actually circulate
According to DefiLlama on 22 October 2026, about $182.9 billion of USDT was in circulation. Tron held $92.6 billion of it (51%) and Ethereum $73.0 billion (40%). BNB Chain was third with $9.2 billion, then Solana with $2.7 billion. Arbitrum and Polygon each held under $800 million.
USDC had about $72.7 billion in circulation on the same date. Ethereum held $44.8 billion (62%), followed by Solana ($7.1 billion), Hyperliquid ($7.0 billion), Base ($4.3 billion), Arbitrum ($2.2 billion) and Polygon ($1.6 billion). Avalanche held $442 million and OP Mainnet, Optimism's network, $164 million. DefiLlama lists no USDC on Tron.
New networks keep arriving. Circle opened the public mainnet of Arc, its own blockchain where fees are paid in USDC, on 16 September 2026, according to The Block. By 22 October, DefiLlama counted $705 million of USDC on it.
Supply shows where liquidity sits. Payment data shows what counterparties use. Artemis studied firms that settled $136 billion of stablecoin payments between January 2023 and August 2025. In its October 2025 report, USDT carried about 85% of volume, and Tron was the most used network, followed by Ethereum.
How the networks compare
| Network | USDT supply, 22 Oct 2026 | USDC supply, 22 Oct 2026 | Time until final | Align accepts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tron | $92.6 billion | None listed | About 1 minute | USDT |
| Ethereum | $73.0 billion | $44.8 billion | About 15 minutes; a block every 12 seconds | USDT, USDC |
| Solana | $2.7 billion | $7.1 billion | 12.8 seconds before Alpenglow; Alpenglow's target is about 150 milliseconds | USDT, USDC |
| Base | Not listed | $4.3 billion | About 2 seconds into a block; about 20 minutes until final on Ethereum | USDC |
| Polygon | $710 million | $1.6 billion | 2 to 5 seconds | USDT, USDC |
| Arbitrum | $798 million | $2.2 billion | Near instant from the sequencer; hard finality equivalent to an Ethereum transaction | USDT, USDC |
| BNB Chain | $9.2 billion | $1.6 billion | About 1.1 seconds | Neither |
Finality times come from each network's own documentation or announcements. BNB Chain's December 2025 roadmap put its finality at 1.125 seconds, with 0.45-second blocks once the Fermi hard fork shipped; Crowdfund Insider reported the fork's rollout in January 2026. Anza, a Solana core engineering team, said Alpenglow went live on Solana mainnet at slot 459,653,000 on 21 October 2026 and "is designed to deliver" finality in about 150 milliseconds, down from 12.8 seconds. Solana's own upgrade page calls 150 milliseconds a target and "an expectation, not a constant". Neither gives a measured mainnet figure.
Fees aren't in the table because they move by the hour, with network demand and with the price of each network's fee token. Etherscan showed Ethereum gas at 0.143 gwei for a standard transaction on 22 October 2026. For live costs on each network, use our stablecoin fees tool, and remember that exchange withdrawal fees and bridge fees come on top. An exchange also waits for its own number of confirmations before crediting a deposit, so a payment can take longer to show than the network's finality time.
How Tron fees work
Tron charges for smart contract calls, including USDT transfers, in "energy". An account with no staked or delegated energy burns TRX instead, at 100 sun (0.0001 TRX) per unit of energy, according to Tron's developer docs. The docs note that this rate is a chain parameter that can be changed by proposal, so the dollar cost of a transfer rises and falls with both the rate and the TRX price.
How much energy a transfer uses depends on the contract call, and Tron's docs recommend estimating it with the network's own tools rather than relying on fixed figures. Senders can cut the TRX burn by staking TRX for energy or by having another account delegate energy to them. If your counterparties all use Tron, it can still be the only practical choice.
What counterparties ask for
- Exchanges. Each supports its own list. Kraken accepts USDT on 11 networks, including Tron, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum and Optimism, and USDC on 9, including Base. Its rule: "You can only deposit and withdraw stablecoins using the networks supported on Kraken." Coinbase says "the same network must be used on both the sending end and the receiving end," with an exception for assets it supports on both Polygon and Ethereum.
- Counterparties in Latin America, Africa and Europe. Mostly USDT. Tron led in most of the countries Artemis sampled in those regions, with Ethereum ahead in Argentina, Peru, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Spain.
- US counterparties. More likely to ask for USDC, which made up nearly a quarter of US volume in the Artemis data. USDC also carried nearly half of the volume sampled in Argentina and India.
- Bridged or native. On Polygon, Arbitrum and Optimism, Kraken supports both native USDC and bridged USDC.e. They are different tokens with different contract addresses, so the recipient needs to say which one they accept. Circle publishes the contract addresses for native USDC.
The rule: send on the network the recipient names
- Get the token, network and address in writing, for example "USDT on Tron (TRC-20)" plus the full address. Confirm them by phone or video on a number you already hold.
- Check your side supports that network. If it doesn't, ask the recipient for an address on a network you both support. Don't pick a cheaper network for them.
- Check the token contract. On networks with more than one version of USDC, compare the contract address with Circle's list.
- Send a small test first, and wait for the recipient to confirm it arrived before sending the rest.
If a transfer goes to the wrong network, see what to do if you send USDT or USDC to the wrong network.
How this works with Align
Align accepts USDT on Ethereum, Tron, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum and Optimism, and USDC on Ethereum, Solana, Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism and Avalanche. BNB Chain isn't on either list, so a counterparty that only offers BEP-20 USDT would need to send on one of the supported networks instead.
Money you receive lands in your balance as USDC or USDT. From there you can send USDC and USDT to wallets, or pay out in USD, EUR, GBP or AED from named accounts in your company's name. Align doesn't onboard companies based in the UAE; AED accounts are for companies outside the UAE. Pricing is quoted on request: contact us.
Sources
- DefiLlama, Stablecoins, Tether and USD Coin (22 October 2026)
- Artemis, Stablecoin payments from the ground up (October 2025)
- Etherscan, Gas tracker (22 October 2026)
- Ethereum.org, Proof of stake and Single slot finality
- Tron developer docs, Consensus, Paying for resources, FeeLimit and energy cost and Account
- Anza, Alpenglow is live on Solana (21 October 2026); Solana, Alpenglow (updated October 2026)
- Base docs, Transaction finality
- Polygon docs, Finality
- Arbitrum docs, FAQ
- BNB Chain, Tech roadmap 2026 (December 2025); Crowdfund Insider, BNB Smart Chain rolls out Fermi hard fork (January 2026)
- The Block, Circle launches Arc mainnet (September 2026)
- Kraken, Stablecoins supported on Kraken; Coinbase, Assets on multiple networks
- Circle, USDC contract addresses and Native USDC on Polygon PoS (September 2023)
- Align docs, Blockchains and stablecoins
Common questions
- Can I send USDT on Tron to someone's Ethereum address?
- Not directly. A transfer happens on one network, and the recipient needs an address on that same network. Tron addresses start with T and Ethereum addresses with 0x, so most wallets reject the mix. To move value between networks, you need an exchange or provider that supports both.
- Which network is cheapest for a stablecoin transfer?
- It changes by the hour. Fees move with network congestion and with the price of each network's fee token, and on Tron an account without staked or delegated energy burns TRX for every USDT transfer, according to Tron's docs. Check live costs on each network in our stablecoin fees tool before you send.
- Is USDT on Tron the same as USDT on Ethereum?
- Both are issued by Tether and meant to be worth one dollar, but they are separate tokens on separate networks. You can't receive one at an address on the other network, and a wallet or exchange that supports one may not support the other.
- What is USDC.e?
- A version of USDC bridged from Ethereum, rather than issued by Circle on that network. Circle issues native USDC on networks including Polygon, Arbitrum and Optimism, and on Polygon it says bridged USDC.e has a different symbol and contract address. Ask the recipient which one they accept.
This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and providers' terms change; check the sources linked above and take advice on your own situation.
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