If you work with USDT on TRON, you’ve probably noticed that a transfer fee can be around 6.77 TRX in some cases, and around 13.4 TRX in others (as of the time of writing). This is a direct consequence of how the USDT smart contract works: the base resource consumption depends on whether the recipient’s wallet already holds USDT.

In addition, TRON uses a dynamic energy model, which means the final cost of a transaction in TRX can fluctuate slightly over time.

Let’s break down how this works — and why it’s important to understand if you send a large number of transactions.

Energy and Bandwidth: Two Fuels of One Network

Unlike Ethereum, where everything is paid for with a single Gas metric, TRON uses a dual resource system.
Bandwidth is required for basic transfers and transaction propagation, including TRX and token transfers. You receive it for free simply by holding TRX in your wallet.

Energy, however, is a different story. It is consumed whenever a smart contract is executed — this includes any USDT TRC-20 transfer, interactions with DeFi protocols, NFT marketplaces, and similar operations.

So where does Energy come from? There are several options. You can freeze (stake) TRX, and the network will allocate Energy proportional to the amount staked. You can rent Energy from specialized providers. Or you can take the simplest route and just pay the fee in TRX, which the network automatically converts into the required resources. In this case, you’re paying a market price — and that price changes over time.

The Dynamic Energy Model: Why Fees “Float”

In February 2023, the TRON community voted to introduce the Dynamic Energy Model. The idea behind it is fairly elegant. When a particular smart contract is used very heavily — for example, the USDT contract during periods of mass transfers — the cost of Energy for interacting with that contract temporarily increases. This mechanism helps protect the network from overload and balances demand across different applications.

In practice, this works as follows. For USDT TRC-20 transfers on TRON, there are two basic scenarios:

• If the recipient’s wallet already holds USDT, the transaction consumes around 65,000 Energy, which at current network parameters is roughly 6.7 TRX.
• If the recipient’s wallet does not yet have USDT, the network needs to create a new entry in the smart contract, and resource usage increases to about 135,000 Energy, or roughly 13.4 TRX.

These values are not directly dependent on overall network load; they are defined by the logic of the USDT smart contract itself. However, because the dynamic energy model affects the price per unit of Energy during periods of high activity, the final cost in TRX can still vary over time.

In August 2025, another important change took place: the TRON community approved Proposal #104, which reduced the base cost of one unit of Energy from 210 sun to 100 sun. In practical terms, this meant a fee reduction of roughly 50–60%, a significant relief for all users.

As OKX analysts noted, “the initiative aims to reduce the cost per unit of energy from 210 sun to 100 sun, lowering transaction costs by around 60%.” After this update, the average USDT transfer fee dropped to more comfortable levels. That said, the dynamic model didn’t disappear. Even with lower base rates, fees can still increase during periods of high activity.

How to Save on Variable Fees

For an average user who sends a couple of transfers per month, fee fluctuations are more of a curiosity than a real issue. But if you’re processing hundreds or thousands of transactions every day, every extra TRX quickly turns into a meaningful expense.

That’s why larger market participants — exchanges, payment providers, crypto acquiring services — often switch to an energy rental model. The logic is simple: instead of paying a fluctuating network fee, you buy or rent Energy at a fixed price. The savings can reach 70–80% compared to standard fees — it’s just math. With 100 transfers per day, that can mean hundreds of dollars saved each month. With 1,000 transfers, the savings reach into the thousands.

Keeply specializes in optimizing these costs by providing access to TRON Energy through a convenient API. This allows businesses to process up to 100,000 transactions per day with predictable expenses — and that’s not the limit. No surprises from the dynamic model: you know in advance exactly how much each transfer will cost.

If you actively work with USDT TRC-20 and are tired of constantly recalculating fees, it’s worth seeing how this works in practice. Message us and we’ll walk you through everything. 

You can also use the online calculator on the Keeply website to instantly estimate your savings based on your transaction volume.

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