Why this model
Three properties fall out of the single-component design:- Predictable costs: fees are based purely on base execution cost. Tip auctions don’t introduce variance.
- USDT-denominated pricing: gas is priced in USDT0, so a developer or user reasoning about cost in dollar terms doesn’t have to account for native-token price fluctuations.
- Extremely low fees: at a base fee of 1 gwei, a native USDT0 transfer (21,000 gas) costs approximately 0.0000021 USDT0. Even complex contract interactions stay well under a cent.
How it compares to Ethereum
| Parameter | Stable | Ethereum |
|---|---|---|
| Gas token | USDT0 | ETH |
| Base fee | Yes | Yes |
Priority tip (maxPriorityFeePerGas) | Ignored (always 0) | Used for ordering |
| EIP-1559 transaction format | Supported | Supported |
maxPriorityFeePerGas is always ignored. Transaction ordering is not influenced by tip bidding.
Implications
- Wallets should hide or disable priority-tip input fields. Displaying them may confuse users since the value has no effect.
- Analytics dashboards should not track priority fees. They will always be zero.
- Transaction-construction tooling should set
maxPriorityFeePerGasto0explicitly, then computemaxFeePerGasfrom the latest block’s base fee with a safety margin.
Next recommended
Gas pricing reference
Construct transactions, estimate gas, and configure tooling against Stable’s fee model.
USDT as gas
See how USDT0 serves as both native gas and ERC-20 balance.
Ethereum comparison
Review every behavior difference you’ll encounter porting from Ethereum.