Which network do I send on?
Last reviewed: July 2026
It's the most common operational question, and the one that costs the most money when answered wrong.
The short answer
For sending stablecoins between people: Polygon, Base, Arbitrum or Solana. All of them cost cents or less.
Don't use Ethereum mainnet unless you're moving thousands of dollars or interacting with something that only exists there.
What a "network" is
Every blockchain is its own separate world. USDC on Solana is not the same token as USDC on Polygon: they're different contracts in different databases that don't talk to each other.
Your address: 0x834fC75B…bB10
That's why you always need to agree on the network before moving anything.
The table that matters
| Network | Gas paid in | Cost to send | When to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solana | SOL | fractions of a cent | Payments, memecoins, everyday use |
| Base | ETH | cents | Payments, DeFi, widely used by Coinbase |
| Arbitrum | ETH | cents | DeFi, Hyperliquid |
| Polygon | POL | cents | Payments and stablecoins; the most widely accepted in LATAM |
| Ethereum | ETH | dollars, sometimes tens of them | Large amounts, or things that only exist there |
| Bitcoin | BTC | dollars | Bitcoin only. Long-term holding |
All the EVMs share your address
Ethereum, Polygon, Base and Arbitrum use the same 0x… format, so your address is identical on all four. That doesn't mean your funds are on all four. It's the number one cause of scares.
How to choose, in 10 seconds
| If… | Send via |
|---|---|
| The other person already uses a network | that same one |
| Receiving on an exchange | whichever network that exchange accepts and is cheap |
| They don't know / don't understand | USDC on Polygon |
To withdraw from an exchange, the question runs the other way: which of the cheap networks does this exchange support for withdrawals? That's where the real savings are.
Layer 1 and Layer 2, painlessly
You'll see these terms a lot:
- Layer 1 (L1): the original blockchain. Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana.
- Layer 2 (L2): a network that runs "on top of" Ethereum, much cheaper, and that inherits its security. Arbitrum and Base are L2s.
For what you're going to do, the practical difference is just that: L2s are Ethereum, but cheap.
Moving tokens between networks
If you have USDC on Solana and need it on Base, there are two paths:
| Path | How | When it's worth it |
|---|---|---|
| Bridge | An app that moves the token from one network to another (Wormhole, Stargate) | Small and medium amounts, if you're already on-chain |
| Through a CEX | You deposit on one network, withdraw on the other | Large amounts, or if you already have an account on the exchange |
The CEX trick
For large amounts, sending to the exchange on one network and withdrawing on another is usually cheaper and safer than using a bridge. Bridges are among the most-hacked pieces of all of crypto.
Before sending to a new network
- Do you have the native currency of that network to pay gas? (Gas)
- Does the recipient accept that network?
- Did you send a $1 test transaction first?
If you came looking for something else:Someone's about to send me crypto · What gas is · Common mistakes