Circle has introduced prepaid fee support for fast transfers on its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, or CCTP.
According to the official announcement, protocol fees were previously deducted directly from the USDC amount delivered on the destination chain. After the update, developers can quote and collect those fees before a transfer is executed, using either the source chain’s native gas token or USDC. The change is meant to simplify fee handling for cross-chain transfers and help ensure that users receive the expected amount of USDC.
Fee handling changes on CCTP
Circle said the prepaid fee mechanism is aimed at making fees more predictable in cross-chain applications. Users no longer need to deal with a lower final received amount caused by extra deductions on the destination chain.
The CCTP Quote API can also calculate fees across different supported chains through a single interface and combine Fast Transfer and Forwarding fees into one quote. That removes the need for developers to build their own systems to estimate multiple protocol charges separately.
Fees can also be paid directly in the source chain’s native token, without reducing or affecting the amount of USDC being transferred.
Supported transfers
For now, prepaid fees are available for USDC transfers across all EVM chains supported by CCTP. The feature does not yet support transfers initiated from Solana, although transfers sent to Solana are still supported.
Developers can use the Quote API to retrieve specific fee quotes and integrate the feature. Circle also said developers can refer to CCTP documentation to build cross-chain USDC transfer flows with more predictable fee outcomes.