Context
Fee optimization is a very important part of your crypto journey. Before doing a transaction, it is important to explore all possible ways and choose the strategy that minimizes the fees. This applies to on chain and off chain transactions.
Let’s say for example you want to transfer a given asset from Exchange A to Exchange B. Each exchange has a withdrawal fee, a deposit fee and sometimes a minimum amount that can be withdrawn. In some cases it could be cheaper to sell the token in one exchange for USD and buy it on the other exchange so you don’t lose your position. While this might be tempting, if there’s any capital gain, you will be imposed and pay taxes on it. So you have to be extremely careful and consult with your tax advisor before doing any alienation of assets.
Example
For the following example we suppose it’s cheaper to buy USDC on Coinbase centralized exchange than buying it on MEXC. You need your liquidity on MEXC because it offers a wider variety of coins. In this scenario, it is better to buy USDC on Coinbase and send it to MEXC. We will walk through the steps.
Receiving wallet
First, in your MEXC wallet, navigate to deposit and choose USDC. Then select a network that has low network fees, For example Polygon(MATIC), Once your address is ready, copy it.
Sending wallet
In your Coinbase application, navigate to your USDC account, click on send. You will be prompted to choose a network. Ethereum has the highest fee, and the rest usually have a very low fee, but as of today it is free. It’s probably a promotion from Coinbase because they encourage the usage of USDC since they are early backers of the Circle project.
Make sure you choose the same network that you selected in MEXC, double check that you are sending USDC using MATIC and enter your MEXC address.
You will receive your funds in a few minutes. In MEXC, since most crypto are paired with USDT, you can convert your USDC to USDT for a negligible fee.
Don’t forget, It is always wise to send a small amount first to make sure you receive it correctly before sending the desired amount.