How Unified Balance fees work

Several fees can apply when you spend from a Unified Balance, including a custom fee you can implement. This page explains which fees apply, how funds move through a spend and how that changes the Unified Balance total, and best practices for custom fees. Fees apply only on spends, not deposits.

Fees breakdown

Each spend can include the following fees:

Fee	When it applies	Amount	Recipient
Custom spend fee	Conditionally. When you implement custom spend fees.	You define (carved from the spend amount).	90% to your fee recipient; 10% to Arc
Gateway protocol fee	Conditionally. On spends where the source and destination differ (crosschain).	0.5 basis points (0.005%) of the spend amount from the Unified Balance at spend time; 0 if same blockchain.	Circle Gateway (protocol underlying Unified Balance)
Gas	Always. On spends that execute burn intents on source blockchains.	Varies by source blockchain and network conditions; incurred per burn intent on source.	Source blockchain
Forwarding Service fee	Conditionally. When you use the Forwarding Service for the destination mint.	Per Forwarding Service fees. Deducted from amount minted on destination.	Circle

Total balance and funds flow

The following example shows what happens when a user wants 500 USDC to arrive at the destination from a Unified Balance of 1,000 USDC (previously deposited), you collect a 5 USDC custom fee on that spend, and the Forwarding Service is enabled:

User deposits into the Unified Balance

The user previously deposited 1,000 USDC from their wallet on the source blockchain into the Unified Balance.

User confirms a spend of 505.20 USDC

The user confirms a spend of 505.20 USDC from the Unified Balance. This is the amount needed to ensure exactly 500 USDC arrives at the destination after the custom fee and Forwarding Service fee are applied. See best practices for what to show the user before they confirm a spend.

You apply a custom spend fee

You deduct a 5 USDC custom fee from the spend amount.

User signs burn intents on the source chains

The user’s source wallet signs three burn intents that move:

500.20 USDC (the spend amount minus the 5 USDC custom fee) toward the destination mint.
0.50 USDC (10% of the custom fee) to Arc.
4.50 USDC (90% of the custom fee) to your fee recipient.

Circle Gateway applies the crosschain transfer fee

Circle Gateway deducts a 0.025 USDC transfer fee from the Unified Balance (0.005% of 505.20 USDC). For a same-chain spend, this fee is 0.

Source chains deduct gas for the burn intents

The source blockchains deduct 0.03 USDC from the Unified Balance as gas for the three burn intents.

Forwarding Service deducts the destination mint fee

The Forwarding Service deducts its fee (0.20 USDC in this example) from the amount to be minted on the destination blockchain.

Recipient receives funds on the destination blockchain

The recipient’s destination wallet receives 500 USDC on the destination blockchain:

500.20 USDC minted.
Deduct 0.20 USDC Forwarding Service fee.
Net received: 500 USDC.

Unified Balance shows the updated total

After the spend, the user’s Unified Balance total is 494.745 USDC:

Started at 1,000 USDC.
Deduct 505.20 USDC spend amount.
Deduct 0.025 USDC Gateway transfer fee.
Deduct 0.03 USDC gas.
Remaining: 494.745 USDC.

This flow and Unified Balance running total is illustrated in the following diagram.

Best practices for custom fees

Follow these best practices when implementing custom fees:

Use a fee recipient address on the source blockchain. Do not use an address on the destination.
Calculate the spend amount from the amount the user wants to receive at the destination. To receive a specific amount, the user must spend more than that from the Unified Balance to cover fees.
Before the user confirms a spend, show:
- Spend summary: spend amount, fee breakdown (custom fee and Forwarding Service fee when applicable), and amount received at the destination.
- Unified Balance summary: starting balance, each deduction (spend amount, Gateway transfer fee when applicable, gas), and remaining balance.

Example UI display

Spend amount:                   505.20 USDC
Forwarding Service fee:        -  0.20 USDC
Custom fee:                    -  5.00 USDC
Amount received at destination: 500.00 USDC

Unified Balance:              1,000.00 USDC
Spend amount:                 -  505.20 USDC
Gateway fee:                  -   0.025 USDC
Gas (estimated):              -    0.03 USDC
Remaining balance:              494.745 USDC

Return human-readable decimal strings. For example, return "10" rather than "10000000" for 10 USDC. The App Kit SDK handles base-unit conversion internally.
Validate that the user’s Unified Balance can cover the spend amount, the Gateway protocol fee, and gas. For gas and fee estimates, see estimate spend fees. Example check:

TypeScript

// Example: calculate required spend from a target destination amount and validate balance
const targetDestinationAmount = 500; // USDC the user wants to arrive at the destination
const forwardingServiceFee = 0.2; // deducted from amount minted at destination
const customFee = 5; // your custom fee in USDC
const spendAmount = targetDestinationAmount + forwardingServiceFee + customFee; // 505.20 USDC
const sameChain = false; // true when source and destination blockchain are the same
const gatewayFee = sameChain ? 0 : spendAmount * 0.00005; // 0.005% when crosschain
const gasEstimate = 0.05; // replace with a blockchain-appropriate estimate; the walkthrough above uses 0.03 for illustration
const userBalance = 1000; // placeholder; in production parse totalConfirmedBalance from kit.unifiedBalance.getBalances
const requiredBalance = spendAmount + gatewayFee + gasEstimate;
if (userBalance < requiredBalance) {
  throw new Error(`Insufficient balance. Need ${requiredBalance} USDC`);
}
// requiredBalance is about 505.275 USDC here (505.20 spend + 0.025 gateway + 0.05 gas estimate)

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Unified Balance

How Unified Balance fees work

Fees breakdown

Total balance and funds flow

Best practices for custom fees

​Fees breakdown

​Total balance and funds flow

​Best practices for custom fees

Fees breakdown

Total balance and funds flow

Best practices for custom fees