What Are Trust Wallet Fees & How to Avoid Them: The Complete Guide

As a leading non-custodial wallet, Trust Wallet has become a go-to choice for many cryptocurrency enthusiasts. It offers a secure and convenient way to store, send, receive, and interact with a wide variety of crypto assets.

However, when transacting on Trust Wallet, you need to pay certain fees – which can eat into your portfolio‘s returns if you don‘t manage them properly!

So in this detailed 2800+ word guide, I‘ll cover everything you need to know about the fees charged on Trust Wallet and proven tips to avoid excessive fees.

Introduction: Demystifying Fees on Trust Wallet

Unlike custodial wallets, Trust Wallet doesn‘t hold your private keys or charge any account fees. As a non-custodial wallet, you have full control over your crypto.

But that doesn‘t mean Trust Wallet transactions are free! You still have to pay two common types of fees:

Network Fees: Required for on-chain transactions on all blockchain networks

Third Party Fees: Charged by external crypto services integrated into Trust Wallet

I‘ll explain both in detail shortly. But before that, let‘s understand why Trust Wallet itself charges zero fees…

Trust Wallet is non-custodial, which means users handle all transaction validations and storage using their own wallets. So Trust Wallet doesn‘t have to spend resources maintaining crypto custody for users.

On the other hand, custodial wallets like Coinbase hold crypto on behalf of users in their internal reserves. To cover custody costs, they charge fees for trading, deposits, withdrawals etc.

Non-custodial architecture allows Trust Wallet to offer basic wallet functionality with zero fees. But it doesn‘t exempt users from standard network and third party fees.

Now let‘s dive deeper into the two common fees you may encounter on Trust Wallet.

Network Fees on Trust Wallet

Every blockchain network requires users to pay a small network fee for making on-chain transactions.

This fee goes to miners or validators who secure the network and process transactions.

Network fees vary across blockchains based on factors like:

• Congestion – More pending transactions in the pool can spike fees
• Transaction size – Complex smart contract transactions cost more
• Gas prices – Ethereum gas fee depends on customizable gas price

As a rule of thumb, these trends hold true for network fees across chains:

• Sending native coins is cheaper than tokens
• Mainnet transactions are costlier than sidechains
• Fetching data costs less than sending transactions

To give you a rough idea, here are average network fees for some popular blockchain networks:

Blockchain	Average Fee
Bitcoin	$1 – $10
Ethereum	$5 – $50
Binance Smart Chain	$0.05 – $0.30
Solana	$0.0020 – $0.0050
Polygon	$0.05 – $0.30

As you can see, Bitcoin and Ethereum tend to have much higher network fees due to reasons we will explore shortly.

Now let‘s look at what causes network fee volatility on some major networks.

Ethereum Network Fees

Ethereum has consistently high network fees due to its unique architecture.

Every operation on Ethereum requires gas – a unit of fee payment for network resources. The total gas fee depends on two variables:

Gas Price – How much you pay per unit of gas (In Gwei. 1 Gwei = 0.000000001 ETH)

Gas Limit – Total units of gas required by the transaction

Gas Fee = Gas Price x Gas Limit

For example, if you set a gas price of 30 Gwei and gas limit of 21,000 units for a Uniswap token swap, the total gas fee would be:

30 Gwei x 21,000 = 630,000 Gwei

Which equals 0.00063 ETH or ~$1.89 at $3,000/ETH

When the Ethereum network gets congested due to high activity, gas fees can spike exponentially due to the bidding nature of the fee market.

Image: Historical Ethereum average gas prices per transfer (Source: BitInfoCharts)

As the above chart shows, average Ethereum gas fees peaked in 2021 during the NFT boom due to severe network congestion. This priced out small DeFi users who could no longer afford the high fees.

Besides congestion, other factors like dropping ETH prices, whale activity, token airdrops etc also lead to gas price hikes due to increased network demand.

Let‘s look at how other top networks handle fees.

Bitcoin Network Fees

Bitcoin transaction fees work differently than Ethereum.

Instead of gas, fees are calculated based on the size of data (in bytes) you want to transfer on the Bitcoin network.

Bitcoin Fee = Satoshis per byte x Total bytes

Miners prioritize transactions offering the highest satoshis per byte when picking transactions to confirm.

So when the mempool fills up with too many pending transactions, you need to pay higher satoshis per byte to get your transaction picked up.

Image: Average Bitcoin transaction fees (Source: BitInfoCharts)

Bitcoin network faced severe congestion in late 2017 and 2021 leading to a massive surge in fees during the bull runs.

Binance Smart Chain Fees

BSC uses a model similar to Ethereum but with far lower fees.

All transactions require BNB for gas payment. A standard BSC transfer costs around $0.05 – $0.30 on average.

Congestion can still occasionally spike BSC fees just like Ethereum. But Even at peak usage, BSC fees go up to only around $1 – $2 per transfer.

Solana Fees

Solana uses a unique "proof of history" method to timestamp transactions and calculate fees.

Average fee per transaction on Solana is a negligible $0.0015 – $0.0020 right now.

Even during peak congestion, Solana network fees rarely go above $0.01 per transaction.

As you can see, fee structures vary widely across blockchains. But some common trends emerge:

• Ethereum and Bitcoin as pioneer networks still have the highest fees
• Congestion and limited throughput drives fee spikes on all networks
• Newer blockchains explicitly target lower fees to attract users

The key takeaway is that network fees are inevitable – but you can optimize them by choosing the right blockchain for transfers.

I‘ll explain optimization strategies later in this guide. But first, let‘s understand the second major fee component on Trust Wallet – third party fees.

Third Party Fees on Trust Wallet

Trust Wallet allows you to instantly buy crypto using a debit/credit card via services like Simplex, Moonpay etc integrated into the wallet.

These are third party crypto brokers that charge their own fees for processing card purchases.

For example, here are the typical fee structures of top crypto buying services on Trust Wallet:

Simplex

• 3.5% transaction fee + $10 network fee per purchase

Moonpay

• 1.5% to 5% transaction fee as per user location

Wyre

• 0.9% + $0.30 per transaction

Mercuryo

• 6.5% + €0.35 fee per purchase

So if you buy $100 worth of ETH through Simplex on Trust Wallet, you‘ll get around $96.5 worth of ETH after Simplex‘s ~3.5% cut.

These third party fees ultimately depend on:

• Purchase amount
• Payment method (debit/credit card)
• User location – fees are higher in certain regions
• Exchange rate fluctuations
• Any promotional discounts

The only way to avoid these fees is to not use the integrated services like Simplex, and instead:

• Buy crypto P2P from someone and transfer it to your Trust Wallet
• Use a ramp service that lets you directly buy crypto with your bank account
• Withdraw cash to a centralized exchange and buy crypto there before sending to Trust Wallet

However, all these methods take more time and effort compared to quick card purchases.

I‘ll share more tips later for reducing third party fees when buying crypto on Trust Wallet.

Now that you know about the two main fee types, let‘s look at strategies to minimize them.

How to Avoid High Fees on Trust Wallet

The key to reducing Trust Wallet fees lies in understanding their nature and tweaking usage patterns accordingly.

Here are some battle-tested tips to avoid excessive network and third party fees:

Optimize Transaction Timing

Network fees tend to be lower during periods of low demand and congestion.

Plan your transfers accordingly to save costs. Here are some guidelines:

• For Ethereum, check https://ethgasstation.info/ regularly to see low-fee periods. Late weekend nights and early mornings in North America/Europe usually have lower gas prices as traffic dies down.

• Avoid moving funds on Ethereum or Bitcoin when major token sales or airdrops are happening – they clog up the network and send fees skyrocketing.

• Transact during off-peak hours in your timezone when overall network usage and demand drops across chains.

Tweak Transaction Settings

Instead of blindly accepting default fees, customize settings to optimize costs:

• On Ethereum, set a reasonable gas price instead of picking the "Slow/Standard/Fast" presets. You can almost always get a Standard confirmation with a gas price below the preset.

• Lower the gas limit from the estimate if transferring an ERC20 token instead of ETH itself – you can save ~5000 gas units easily.

• On Bitcoin, go with a lower satoshis per byte setting instead of default or urgent options.

• Make use of BSC, Polygon, or other L2 solutions for transfers whenever possible due to their lower fees.

Use Native Coins

Sending native coins like BNB, MATIC, or SOL costs way less in fees than sending ERC20 tokens on the same network.

So if you need to transfer Ethereum-based tokens frequently, consider keeping some ETH in your wallet to cover gas fees.

You can also temporality swap tokens for native coins using DEX aggregators and then swap back after transferring to avoid spending tokens on gas.

Leverage Layer 2 Networks

Layer 2 rollup solutions like Arbitrum, Optimism allow you to massively cut down Ethereum fees by transacting on these companion networks and settling periodically on Layer 1.

For small transfers, using L2s can reduce Ethereum gas fees by 70-90%. Even as adoption grows, they cost a fraction compared to direct Layer 1 transfers.

So take advantage of Layer 2 integration on wallets like Trust whenever possible to slash gas costs.

Avoid Peak Hour Congestion

Ethereum gas fees can rapidly fluctuate even within a day depending on traffic.

Analysis shows that fees are highest from 8 AM to 8 PM UTC on weekdays when usage peaks globally.

So try scheduling large transfers outside peak hours to save on gas.

Deduct Fees from Taxes

One "hidden" way to offset network fees is to deduct them from your taxes as operating costs.

So make sure to account for the fees paid while filing crypto taxes each year.

Batch Multiple Transactions

You can optimize fees by batching multiple transfers into one transaction on Ethereum and other networks.

Instead of sending tokens to 10 different addresses, combine everything into a single contract call to pay gas fees only once.

This strategy is commonly used by centralized exchanges holding funds of multiple users.

Use Payment Channels for Recurring Transfers

Payment channel networks like Bitcoin Lightning and Ethereum Raiden allow near-zero fee transfers between two parties who open a payment channel.

This is perfect for frequent micropayments or recurring transfers between the same addresses.

Double Check Receiver Address

One easy way to avoid fees is to ensure you enter the correct receiving address in one go.

If you make a mistake originally and have to re-send funds, you end up paying double the fees.

So always double and triple check the address before hitting send!

Consider Alternate Chains

While Ethereum has the most ecosystem activity, high gas fees are a bottleneck.

For simple transfers, consider switching to lower fee chains like Polygon (specially for ERC20s), Solana, BSC etc based on the crypto asset.

Reducing Third Party Fees

As mentioned earlier, the only way to completely avoid third party fees is to not use the integrated services like Simplex and Moonpay in Trust Wallet.

But you can still reduce the impact of third party fees by:

• Comparing rates across multiple services and choosing the one with lowest fees

• Using a debit card instead of credit card – fewer fees

• Buying larger chunks instead of small amounts – fee percentage decreases

• Seeing if the provider offers any discounts or cashbacks to offset the fees

• Using a fee-free fiat on-ramp through bank transfer (but slower)

• Funding your own crypto using P2P trades to avoid service fees

Or as mentioned earlier, withdrawing cash to a spot exchange and purchasing there before transferring to Trust Wallet.

Closing Thoughts

I know I covered a lot of ground in this extensive guide about Trust Wallet fees – so let me summarize the key takeaways for you:

• Trust Wallet itself does not charge any wallet usage fees due to its non-custodial nature – but you still have to pay network fees for transfers and third party fees for card purchases.

• Network fees on blockchains fluctuate dynamically depending on congestion, transaction size, gas prices etc. – Bitcoin and Ethereum tend to have the highest network fees.

• Third party services integrated into Trust Wallet like Simplex charge 1.5% to 5% on crypto buys through card – these fees depend on purchase amount, location and other factors.

• You can optimize network fees by choosing the right blockchain, changing transaction settings carefully, using L2s and native coins, transaction batching and payment channels among other tips covered.

• It‘s difficult to completely avoid third party fees – but shopping providers, using debit card, buying at lower frequencies and using ramps can help minimize the impact.

I hope this detailed guide has equipped you with the knowledge required to take control of Trust Wallet fees and avoid unnecessary charges. Optimizing fees should be an integral part of your crypto trading or HODLing strategy.

If you found this helpful, do share it with fellow Trust Wallet users in your network. And as always, happy wallet fees slaying!