How to send USDT on Tron without TRX

Why a USDT transfer on Tron needs TRX

USDT on Tron is a token that lives in a smart contract. Moving it uses two network resources: bandwidth, for the bytes of the transaction, and energy, for running the contract. An address that has not set resources aside pays for them by burning TRX, Tron's own coin. If the address holds no TRX, the network refuses the transfer, however much USDT is sitting there.

The amount is not fixed. A transfer to an address that has never held USDT needs roughly twice the energy of one to an address that already holds some, because the contract has to open a new balance for the recipient. That is why the TRX a transfer needs can change from one recipient to the next.

The usual fixes, and their catch

• Get some TRX first. It works, but you need a second coin before you can move the money you already have, and a small purchase often carries a fee of its own.
• Ask someone to send you TRX. Slow, and one more person in the middle of your payment.
• Freeze TRX for energy. Sensible if you send often, but it locks up TRX you probably do not have.

For someone who has just received USDT and wants to pass it on, each of these is an extra step and an extra coin.

How OB Wallet handles it

OB Wallet shows how a USDT transfer on Tron will be paid for on the confirmation screen, before you sign anything. Depending on what your wallet holds, you see up to three ways:

• Pay the fee in USDT. Offered when your TRX does not cover the transfer. You pay OB Wallet a service fee in USDT, and in return we cover the transfer's network cost. The screen shows the service fee and the total, the amount plus the fee, before you confirm.
• Send at the reduced fee. If you hold some TRX, you can pay OB Wallet a smaller service fee in TRX instead, and we cover the network cost. Most of the time it costs less than the normal network fee.
• Send at the normal fee. The ordinary Tron transfer: the network burns TRX from your balance. The screen shows the most it can take.

The first two are optional and paid. Their fee is OB Wallet's own service charge, paid to Metaverse Trading Ltd, the company that makes the app; it is not a network fee, and you always see it before you confirm.

Step by step: sending USDT with the fee in USDT

1. Open the wallet that holds the USDT and tap Send.
2. Choose USDT on Tron. OB Wallet shows USDT on Tron, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and TON as separate rows; this option is for Tron.
3. Paste or scan the recipient's address and enter the amount.
4. On the confirmation screen, choose Pay the fee in USDT, and check the service fee and the total.
5. Confirm with your PIN.
6. Keep the app open for a minute or two while the transfer is sent and checked on the network.

What happens behind the screen: your phone signs two USDT transfers, your payment and the fee. Our service sends your payment first, and only once it has arrived on the network does it send the fee. If your transfer does not go through, nothing is paid. Your keys never leave your phone, and the service can only publish the two transfers you signed: it cannot change the recipient or the amount.

If you send your whole balance, the fee comes out of the amount, and the screen says so.

Things to know

• If the fee has gone up since the screen opened, nothing is signed, and you are asked to prepare the send again to see the new fee.
• Paying the fee in USDT has a daily limit. When it is reached, nothing is paid; you can use one of the other ways or try the next day.
• When the fee cannot be paid in USDT at that moment, nothing is sent and nothing is paid.
• No TRX is needed. If you do hold a little, a small network fee may still come out of it.
• Before you send, OB Wallet checks whether Tether has frozen the receiving address and warns you, and it warns you when an address starts and ends like one you have paid but is not it. More on that in our guide to look-alike address scams.

If you would rather keep a little TRX

Holding a few TRX lets you use the reduced fee, or the normal one. You can bring TRX in from your Binance account with the button on the receive page (Binance sends at least 20 TRX this way; see moving crypto from Binance to your own wallet), or buy by card where a provider offers it.