USDC on Solana: what a transfer costs right now

What sets the fee on Solana

Every Solana transaction pays a base fee of 5,000 lamports (0.000005 SOL) per signature, half burned and half paid to the validator, according to Solana's docs. A transaction can add a priority fee, priced per compute unit, to be scheduled ahead of others. Fees are paid in SOL.

We add the median priority fee recently paid by transactions that touched the USDC mint, for a 20,000 compute-unit limit; a token transfer uses about 6,000. When the network is busy around the token, that part rises.

A first transfer to a wallet that has never held USDC costs more, because the recipient needs a token account for it. The sender usually funds it with the rent-exempt deposit for a 165-byte account, which we read live, so the figure for a new address is much higher than the regular fee.

Not included: exchange withdrawal fees, bridging, conversion spreads and Align's own pricing, which is quoted on request.

How long a transfer takes

Circle credits a USDC deposit after

1 confirmation, about 200 milliseconds

Finality before Alpenglow

12.8 seconds

Alpenglow's finality target

About 150 milliseconds

Circle credits a USDC deposit on Solana after one confirmation, about 200 milliseconds, and the tracker shows that as under a second. Anza, a Solana core engineering team, said the Alpenglow upgrade went live on mainnet on 21 October 2026 and is designed to bring finality to about 150 milliseconds, down from 12.8 seconds. Solana's own page calls 150 milliseconds a target, not a constant, and no measured mainnet figure has been published yet.

The USDC contract on Solana

EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v

Circle lists this as the USDC token address (the mint) on Solana. USDT on Solana has a different mint, Es9vMFrzaCERmJfrF4H2FYD4KCoNkY11McCe8BenwNYB, so check which one a wallet or invoice means. Source: Circle, USDC contract addresses. View it on the block explorer.

Sending USDC on Solana to Align

Align accepts USDC on Solana. It also accepts USDC on Ethereum, Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism and Avalanche, and lists every network it supports in its docs. Money you receive lands in your balance as USDC, and from there you can send it to wallets or pay out in USD, EUR, GBP or AED from named accounts in your company's name.

Not sure which network to use? See which network to use for USDT and USDC payments.

Common mistakes

• Picking the USDT mint, or a look-alike. Wallets show tokens by name, and anyone can create a token called USDC. Compare the mint with EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v, the address Circle publishes.
• No SOL in the sending wallet. Every Solana transaction pays its fee in SOL, and a first transfer to a new wallet also funds the recipient's token account. Keep some SOL next to the USDC.
• Sending to an Ethereum-style address. Solana addresses don't start with 0x. A Solana wallet can't receive USDC sent on Ethereum or an L2, and the reverse; use the address the recipient gives for Solana.
• Leaving out a memo. Some exchanges need a memo or tag with a deposit. Include it whenever the deposit page shows one.

Not sure which network an address is on? Paste it into the wallet address checker. If a transfer has already gone to the wrong network or address, see what to do if you send USDT or USDC to the wrong network.

Other networks

• USDT on Tron (TRC-20) network fee
• USDT on Ethereum (ERC-20) network fee
• USDT on Solana network fee
• USDC on Base network fee
• USDC on Ethereum (ERC-20) network fee
• USDC on Polygon network fee
• USDC on Arbitrum network fee
• USDC on Optimism network fee
• USDC on Avalanche network fee
• Every network side by side, including Aptos

Estimates of network fees for information, not financial advice. Actual fees depend on network load at the moment you send and on the wallet or provider you use.