USDC yield fees: gas cost times a factor, not a cut
How Earn's fee is computed and who pays gas.
Earn's fee is the gas cost of a move times a small per-chain factor, taken in shares of the vault you leave. Rebalances pay it, and so does each remote network a Reduce bridges back from. There is no percentage of yield and no management fee.
Per-chain factors
Each chain has its own factor. Chains with higher gas costs get a lower factor.
| Chains | Factor | Example gas cost | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optimism, Unichain, Monad | 5x | 0.005 USDC | 0.025 USDC |
| Base, Polygon, Arbitrum | 2.5x | 0.02 USDC | 0.05 USDC |
| Ethereum | 1.1x | 1.00 USDC | 1.10 USDC |
The gas costs above are illustrative. Quicknode adjusts the factors from time to time, and the actual fee depends on gas prices at the time of the move.
How the fee is computed
At each rebalance, Earn takes the gas cost of the move at the chain's current gas price, converts it to USDC, and multiplies by the per-chain factor. The result is taken in shares of the source vault. If the move fails, no fee is taken.
A cross-chain rebalance is priced in two legs: the source-chain gas at the source chain's factor, plus the destination relay-and-deposit gas at the destination chain's factor. Earn simulates the destination leg up front to price it, then takes the combined fee once, from the shares leaving the source vault.
A Reduce pays one relay fee for each remote network the funds come back from. Each is the gas cost of one mint on your funding chain, at that chain's gas price and factor, withheld from what you receive. A Reduce that touches only the funding chain pays no fee. See Increase and Reduce.
Principal-erosion guard
Earn skips any rebalance whose fee would push your net value below the capital you have put in: your deposits minus your withdrawals. Increase and Reduce change that figure. The move is reconsidered on a later check, by which point yield may have caught up or a cheaper candidate may have appeared.
Forced exits bypass the guard. Exiting a vault you hid, or one below your Minimum withdrawable liquidity or Auto-exit vault size, executes and charges its fee even if that dips below the capital you have put in. See Forced exits.
Who pays gas
- You pay gas on the transactions your wallet signs: USDC allowance, per-vault approvals, deposit, Increase, Reduce, close, and Claim to wallet on a stalled bridge.
- Quicknode pays gas on the transactions Earn signs for you: rebalances, and the destination-chain mint on every cross-chain deposit, rebalance, and close.
- Your vault shares stay in your wallet. If you redeem them on Morpho directly, you pay that gas and no Earn fee. See Your shares.
Where fees show up
Each rebalance entry in the History tab shows its fee in USDC. The strategy page shows Total fees beside Net value, and the Performance tab splits Gross Value, Fees Collected, and Net Value.