Fees¶

Announcing transactions have an associated cost. This cost is necessary to provide an incentive for the harvesters who secure the network and run the infrastructure.

Network currency¶

By default, fees are paid in the underlying currency of the Catapult network.

Default network currency per network type
Network type Mosaic name
MIJIN_TEST cat.currency
TEST_NET symbol.xym

Private chains can edit the configuration of the network to eliminate fees, or use another mosaic that better suits their needs.

Transaction fee¶

The fee associated with a transaction primarily depends on the transaction’s size. The effective fee is the product of the size of the transaction, and a fee multiplier set by the harvester. The node owner can configure the latter value to all positive values, including zero.

$effectiveFee = transaction::size * block::feeMultiplier$

The sender of a transaction must specify during the transaction definition a max_fee, meaning the maximum fee the account allows to spend for this transaction.

If the effective_fee is smaller or equal to the max_fee, the harvester can opt to include the transaction in the block. The fee_multiplier is stored in the block header, permitting to determine which was the effective fee paid for every transaction included in the block.

The harvesting nodes can decide their transaction inclusion strategy:

• Prefer-oldest: Preferred for networks with high transaction throughput requirements. Include first the oldest transactions.
• Minimize-fees: Philanthropic nodes. Include first the transactions that other nodes do not want to include.
• Maximize-fees: Most common in public networks. Include first transactions with higher fees.

Rental fee¶

Accounts willing to register a namespace or a mosaic have to pay a rental fee in addition to the transaction fee. The effective rental fee is adjusted dynamically based on the median network multiplier over last maxDifficultyBlocks.

For more information, see how the network calculates the effective rental fee for mosaics and namespaces.

Continue: Consensus.