What are Energy and Bandwidth in TRON

It is not a secret that the TRON network does not have fixed transaction fees. Even novice users can see this for themselves after a relatively short period of dealing with TRC-20 tokens, which include the USDT and USDC stablecoins, as well as other Dapps using smart contracts.

But active users or Dapps developers know this for sure – they also know very well why commissions for similar transactions can differ so much, sometimes several times.

If you want to know about this, you should understand how commission charges are formed and what role such Tron blockchain resources as Energy and Bandwidth play in the process. These resources can be used when paying for transactions without spending any TRX.

The TRON ecosystem uses Energy and Bandwidth instead of the standard “gas” fees like Ethereum. This is why Tron users can effectively reduce transaction fees, especially when sending USDT TRC-20.

What is Bandwidth?

It’s always easier for those who limit themselves to simple TRX transfers. For this type of transaction, TRC-10 tokens are used, for which network bandwidth is important. Each blockchain user receives 600 Bandwidth units to their wallet every day for free. In order to check the availability of this resource, you must be registered via TronScan (an explorer for the TRON network) in the decentralized non-custodial wallet TronLink or another similar one linked to your Tron account.

Of course, if this volume is not enough for the day, then you will have to pay for the missing Bandwidth with the network's native cryptocurrency – TRX. Or send TRX for staking in advance, setting the required resource as payment for this.

But to transfer TRC-20 USDT you need not only Bandwidth, but also Energy – this resource compensates for the blockchain’s costs of computing power and electricity.

What is Energy

The Energy resource in the Tron network can be compared to the gas fee in cryptocurrency blockchains that obtain crypto through mining.

Energy is also called the fuel for smart contracts, since neither their development nor their use can be done without this resource when paying for transactions. And since all Dapps are smart contracts or smart contract packages, decentralized application developers must also have significant Energy reserves. Of course, this also applies to those who are engaged in USDT TRC-20 transfers and work with other TRC-20 standard tokens.

Why do those who work with TRC-20 standard tokens need a reserve of Energy? Because if your wallet lacks this resource, TRX will be burned during the transaction. Of course, this is much more expensive than paying for the transaction using the Energy resource.

Although this resource is not provided by the blockchain for free, like Bandwidth, you can get it in several ways:

• passive staking of TRX;
• purchase on the stock exchange;
• exchange with other users for other assets;
• renting using specialized services such as NETTS;

Of course, you may not feel interested in other ways to get Energy except for staking if you have a sufficient amount of TRX and you can constantly keep a certain amount of native crypto in staking, which will provide you with a constant flow of the necessary resources and almost free transactions. But very few active users of the Tron network, including developers of smart contracts and Dapps based on them can afford to keep sufficient amount of TRX in staking.

And even if you stake around 3k$ worth of TRX, you can still get 3 times the transactions from this amount of TRX if you would just rent Energy. Which makes renting incredibly profitable no matter how you look at it.

Why USDT TRC-20 Transfer Fees Are Different

The answer to this question starts with the fact that you will have to pay 27.25 TRX when sending to an empty USDT wallet and 13.4 TRX when sending to a USDT wallet that has at least some of this asset: even 0.1 USDT TRC-20 in the recipient's wallet will already halve the cost of the transaction. Here is the first factor regarding this stablecoin pegged to the USD rate.

But since it is a TRC-20 token in the Tron blockchain system, you can use other factors to ensure a lower transaction cost when transferring through the Tron network.

1. Availability of Energy on the wallet. With a sufficient amount of Energy, the commission will be minimal, you will spend only resources, without using TRX.
2. TRON network load. Commissions may change depending on the activity level: a more loaded network requires more costs to ensure throughput, these costs will be compensated by increasing the cost of transactions.
3. Access to operational rent of Energy. Large volumes of this resource can be rented, which will prevent the risk of switching the network to TRX during interaction with TRC-20 tokens.

It’s much more efficient to use Energy to pay for the transaction. If you do not have this resource, NETTS will always provide – this will reduce the cost of any transaction by up to FIVE TIMES. By the way, we advise you not to split the USDT transfer, since the cost of the transaction does not depend on the volume of stablecoins transferred.

Using NETTS, you can get 65k or 131k of Energy to your wallet within a second for an hour. This will significantly reduce the cost of the transaction – so why pay more?

How to Use Energy and Bandwidth Correctly

Active Tron users and developers of applications and smart contracts based on TRC-20 tokens should avoid risks associated with sudden depletion of Energy reserves and Bandwidth, so that you don’t have to spend native cryptocurrency against your will.

For this purpose, the following “safety precautions” methods are quite accessible to these categories of users:

• check for availability of resources before sending USDT, remember that both types of resources are required for this operation, the same applies to all TRC-20 standard tokens;
• rent Energy beforehand to avoid "unauthorized" TRX spending;
• constant use of Energy renting services if you send USDT often.

Let's sum up everything that has been said above.

Bandwidth is sufficient for regular TRX transfers. However, it also forms part of the commission when working with TRC-20 tokens, including USDT transfers.

To avoid high transaction fees when transferring USDT, use another resource on the Tron network – Energy, which will save TRX from burning.

The best option that guarantees constant access to an unlimited amount of Energy is using an Energy renting service.