On this page 8 sections
The coin you pay with decides more than habit: it sets the network fee, how long provisioning waits for confirmations, what the payment reveals on-chain and how much can go wrong on the way from an exchange. PowerDedi accepts five: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, USDT on TRON (TRC-20) and Solana. This guide compares them using fee levels checked on 25 September 2026 and our own payment rules. It is practical guidance, not investment advice.
The short version
| If you care most about | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fast confirmation | Solana or USDT (TRC-20) | Typically confirmed in about a minute or less |
| A low network fee from your own wallet | Solana; Ethereum while gas stays low | From a fraction of a cent to under $0.20 at the time of writing |
| No exposure to price swings | USDT (TRC-20) | A stablecoin designed to track the US dollar |
| On-chain privacy | Monero (XMR) | Sender, receiver and amount hidden by default |
| Paying with coins you already hold | That coin, such as BTC or ETH | No conversion trade, no extra spread |
| Paying straight from an exchange | The coin and network your exchange withdraws cheaply | Exchange fees often differ from on-chain costs |
Whatever you choose, the USD amount is converted and locked when you open the payment, so short-term price moves while you pay don’t change what you owe.
Network fees at the time of writing
These are on-chain costs for a single payment on 25 September 2026. They move with demand and with each coin’s price, so treat them as a snapshot. Exchange withdrawal fees are set by each exchange and can be higher or lower.
| Network | On-chain cost of one payment | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | 2–5 sat/vB recommended; about 140 vB for a simple payment, so roughly 300–700 sats ($0.25–$0.60) | More inputs, or a busy mempool, cost more |
| Ethereum | 21,000 gas for a plain ETH transfer; with base fees mostly under 1 gwei, a few cents | Gas prices rise quickly when the network is busy |
| Monero | 20,000 piconero per byte at the lowest priority: about 0.00003–0.00005 XMR for a typical transaction, two or three cents | Higher priorities multiply the fee |
| USDT on TRON (TRC-20) | About 6.4–6.8 TRX of network fee if the recipient already holds USDT and 13–13.4 if it doesn’t: roughly $2.20 or $4.50 | Less with staked or rented energy. A new deposit address usually means the higher figure |
| Solana | 5,000 lamports per signature, plus an optional priority fee | A fraction of a cent |
One result runs against conventional wisdom. USDT on TRON is cheap when your wallet has staked or rented energy, or when an exchange absorbs the cost. Paying the fee from a self-custody wallet cost more than an Ethereum transfer on the day we checked, even though TRON cut its energy price by more than half in August 2025, from 210 to 100 sun per unit. The recipient’s balance matters too: sending to an address that holds no USDT uses about twice the energy.
From an exchange, the calculation changes again. What you pay is the exchange’s withdrawal fee, not the chain’s cost, and exchanges price each coin in their own way. Compare the fees on the withdrawal screen before choosing: the cheapest chain on paper is not always the cheapest withdrawal.
Confirmation times and payment windows
A payment counts once it is confirmed on its blockchain. The typical times below depend on each network’s load; the payment window is how long the crypto amount stays locked to the USD price.
| Coin and network | Typical confirmation | Payment window |
|---|---|---|
| Solana (SOL) | Under a minute | 30 minutes |
| USDT on TRON (TRC-20) | About a minute | 30 minutes |
| Ethereum (ETH) | A few minutes | 30 minutes |
| Bitcoin (BTC), Monero (XMR) | 10–30 minutes | 45 minutes |
A payment sent just before the window closes but confirmed after it is still detected and credited: the payment page keeps watching and shows until when. Bitcoin’s pace is structural: the protocol targets one block every ten minutes on average. Monero adds a block about every two minutes, and Ethereum proposes one every 12-second slot.
Privacy: transparent ledgers vs Monero
Bitcoin, Ethereum, TRON and Solana are transparent: anyone can see the addresses and amounts of every transaction. What links a payment to a person usually sits off-chain, such as an exchange account that knows your identity, or an address you reuse.
Monero hides the sender, the receiver and the amount of every transaction by default, using stealth addresses, ring signatures and RingCT. The owner of an address can share its private view key to let a chosen third party, such as an auditor, see incoming transactions without being able to spend.
On-chain privacy has limits. If you buy XMR on an exchange that verified your identity and withdraw it straight to a deposit address, the exchange still knows where that withdrawal went. Monero hides what the chain reveals, not what the parties to a transaction already know.
On our side, sign-up needs only an email address, and we collect no card, bank or identity documents. Our billing records do include each payment’s deposit address and transaction hash; on transparent chains, those are public anyway.
A stablecoin or a volatile coin?
Our prices are set in US dollars and your balance is kept in US dollars. When you open a payment, the crypto amount is fixed for 30 minutes, or 45 for Bitcoin and Monero, so volatility during the payment itself is not your risk. It matters before: between buying a coin and paying with it.
USDT removes most of that exposure, not all of it: a stablecoin is a claim on its issuer’s reserves, and its price can briefly drift from one dollar in a market panic. For a monthly server bill paid within minutes of buying, that risk is small.
USDT exists on several blockchains, and the same token on another network is a different asset for a deposit address. We accept USDT on TRON (TRC-20) only: check that the address starts with “T” and that TRON is the network selected in your wallet or exchange.
Exchange withdrawal pitfalls
Most payment problems start at an exchange, not on-chain.
- Fee deducted from the amount. Some exchanges subtract the withdrawal fee from the amount you enter. Binance, for example, lets you specify either the total withdrawn or the amount the recipient receives. Choose the amount received, or the payment arrives short.
- Wrong network. Exchanges warn that funds sent on the wrong network may be lost for good. For USDT, pick TRON (TRC-20) explicitly: an exchange may offer the same token on several networks on one screen.
- Minimums. Exchanges set a minimum amount per withdrawal that varies by coin and network, and a small top-up can fall below it.
- Processing delays. Some exchanges review or batch withdrawals. A transaction that lands shortly after the window is still detected and credited.
- Fee token in a self-custody wallet. Sending USDT from your own TRON wallet needs a little TRX in the same wallet to pay the network fee.
Paying step by step
- In your client area, choose an amount (or pay a server order directly) and pick the coin.
- Copy the exact amount and the deposit address, or scan the QR code. Every payment has its own address; never reuse an old one.
- From an exchange, select the matching network and enter the amount the recipient should receive.
- Send within the window: 30 minutes, or 45 for Bitcoin and Monero.
- Wait for confirmation. The page updates by itself: the amount is added to your balance and, for an order, the invoice is paid and provisioning starts.
Every on-chain payment costs a network fee and carries a chance of error, so fewer payments are better. You can top up your account balance once and let renewals draw from it: renewal invoices are issued seven days before the due date and paid automatically when the balance covers them. Unused balance is refundable on request within 30 days of the top-up, to a wallet you control, in the same cryptocurrency, minus the network fee.
Our guide to paying with cryptocurrency walks through each screen, including what to do if a payment window expires before your transaction lands. The accepted coins and payment rules are summarized on the crypto payments page.
Sources
- Proposal: decrease the transaction fees (energy unit price from 210 to 100 sun) — TRON Improvement Proposals
- Gas and fees — ethereum.org
- Proof-of-stake — ethereum.org
- Block chain guide — Bitcoin developer documentation
- Bitcoin fee estimates — mempool.space
- What is Monero? — The Monero Project
- View key — Moneropedia
- Transaction fees — Solana documentation
- How to withdraw crypto from Binance — Binance
- Cryptocurrency withdrawal fees and minimums — Kraken
