According to DeFiLlama, by February 2026, the issuance of USDT on the TRON network exceeded $85 billion, surpassing Ethereum. However, a single USDT transfer (TRC-20) costs between $1.83 and $3.83, depending on the recipient's wallet, while a similar operation on Ethereum costs just $0.02.
In this article, we explore with the team from TronZap why TRON remains expensive and how to rent energy to save up to 60% on fees.
Why USDT Transfers on TRON Are Expensive
Each USDT (TRC-20) transfer executes a smart contract that consumes Energy — the computational resource of the TRON network. A standard transaction to a wallet that already holds USDT requires approximately 65,000 units of Energy and 345 Bandwidth. Sending to an empty wallet requires about 131,000 Energy, as the smart contract creates a new storage slot.
Energy can be obtained in three ways:
- Staking TRX. Tokens are locked for 14 days and generate replenishable resources. The problem is the scale: to generate 65,000 Energy per day, approximately 5,982 TRX (~$1,700 at current rates) must be staked.
- Burning TRX. If there is no Energy in the wallet, TRON automatically deducts TRX at the current price per unit of resource.
- Renting from third-party services for 3–5.5 TRX per transaction.
The price of Energy has been adjusted several times. In December 2022, Proposal #79 raised it from 280 to 420 sun to limit spam transactions. In September 2024, Proposal #95 halved it to 210 sun, but simultaneously increased the dynamic coefficient for overloaded contracts. In practice, this only affected USDT — the most popular contract on the network.
USDT transfer fees continued to rise alongside the TRX price: if in Q1 2024 sending to an empty wallet cost about $1.64, by Q3 2025, the price reached approximately $4.28.
In August 2025, Proposal #104 directly impacted the USDT contract for the first time: the price of Energy dropped from 210 to 100 sun (a 52% reduction). Justin Sun called it the largest fee reduction in the network's history.
Before the adoption of #104, sending to an empty wallet cost 27.25 TRX, while sending to a wallet with USDT cost 13.4 TRX. After the fee reduction, these costs were halved.
However, in dollar terms, the savings were modest due to the rising token price. With TRX priced at around $0.284 on March 10, 2026, the costs for transfers are as follows:
- Transferring to a wallet with USDT consumes about 65,000 Energy, burning approximately 6.5 TRX ($1.85);
- Sending to an empty wallet uses about 131,000 Energy (~13.1 TRX) and costs $3.72.
Despite these fees, users are not deterred. According to Presto Research estimates from September 2025, TRON processes about 75% of all USDT transfers globally. This dominance is attributed to infrastructural ties (USDT on TRON dominates CEX/exchange flows) and geographical roots — on-chain activity largely aligns with regions highlighted by Chainalysis in the Global Crypto Adoption Index.
What is the OUT_OF_ENERGY Error and How to Avoid It
OUT_OF_ENERGY is a common issue for USDT senders on the TRON network. It occurs when there is neither Energy nor sufficient TRX in the wallet to cover the burning fee.
TRON employs a cascading payment model: Energy (staked or delegated) is consumed first, then TRX is burned, and only if both resources are exhausted does the transaction fail. A failed operation still consumes resources: Bandwidth and partially used Energy or TRX are not returned. Repeated attempts waste the remaining balance.
“We often receive inquiries from people encountering OUT_OF_ENERGY for the first time. They see USDT in their balance but cannot send it. Many do not understand that the issue is not with the wallet, but with the lack of resources to execute the smart contract,” the TronZap team explains.
Delegating Energy from a third-party service resolves this issue. The resource is supplied to the wallet externally, allowing the transaction to proceed without TRX in the sender's balance.
How to Rent Energy
Over the past three years, a distinct class of energy supply services has emerged in the market. One of them is TronZap, an automated infrastructure service that delegates staked Energy to wallets upon request. The project is part of the TRON Builders League (TBL) — an incubation program of TRON DAO.
TronZap stakes its own TRX pool, generates Energy, and executes DelegateResourceContract transactions for temporary delegation of resources to the client's wallet. Private keys are not transferred — delegation is fully non-custodial. Energy is available for one hour — during this time, USDT transfers consume the rented resource instead of TRX.
When renting through TronZap, sending to a wallet with USDT costs $0.85 instead of $1.85 (a 54% savings), and sending to an empty wallet costs $1.56 instead of $3.72 (58%).
“We do not touch the client's funds. Delegation is a standard on-chain operation: energy is sent to the wallet, consumed during the USDT transfer, and returned to our staking pool after an hour. One hour is sufficient: most users send the transaction within minutes of purchasing energy,” the TronZap team clarifies.
The service offers three access methods for different client profiles:
- Quick rental via the website. No registration is required. Simply send TRX to the TronZap address — Energy is automatically delegated to the sender's wallet within approximately 60 seconds. The minimum is 3 TRX, and the maximum is 100 TRX per operation. This is suitable for one-off transfers;
- Telegram bot. An account is automatically created upon the first request. Just top up the balance within the bot, specify the address and amount of Energy;
- Dashboard and API. REST API with authentication via Bearer token and SHA-256 signature. The API covers the entire cycle: estimating Energy for a specific transfer, calculating costs, creating orders, and managing subscriptions.
TronZap also offers built-in AML checks for wallets and transactions related to suspicious activity. This feature is available through the Telegram bot, dashboard, and API.
For regular senders, this provides a way to verify the counterparty before transferring. For payment providers and exchange services, it serves as a replacement for a separate compliance solution: AML scoring can be integrated into existing infrastructure using the same endpoints used for Energy rental.
For companies with a regular flow of USDT transactions, manual Energy purchases are impractical. The TronZap Energy API allows for automation: calculating how much Energy is needed for a specific transfer, ordering delegation, and setting up subscriptions for wallets with regular operations.
“A payment service that processes 500 USDT transfers daily and burns TRX on each loses $900 every day. By renting energy through the API, this amount drops to $400. At a scale of 15,000 transactions per month, the difference amounts to about $15,000,” the TronZap team calculates.
Competition and Threats to TRON
On September 25, 2025, the team behind the stablecoin platform Plasma launched its mainnet with support from Bitfinex, Tether, and Founders Fund. The project aims to support high-speed payments and USDT transactions without fees.
Ethereum, with gas prices at historical lows, along with Solana and BNB Chain, which are expanding their stablecoin ecosystems, are creating additional pressure.
Nevertheless, TRON still dominates in terms of the number of issued USDT, although network fees remain higher than those on Ethereum, Solana, TON, and BNB Chain.
Renting TRON Energy through services like TronZap allows for a 50–75% reduction in costs. For holders of non-custodial wallets, exchange services, and payment providers in the CIS, this is not just an optional optimization but a practical tool for savings.