EVM networks
How EVM chains work as payment rails
Most of the networks on this site are EVM chains: Ethereum and the networks that copied its machinery. They share an address format, a fee model and a token standard, which is why one wallet reaches all of them — and also why the most expensive mistake in crypto payments happens between them rather than to them.
One address, every chain — and the trap in that
An EVM address is derived from a key and nothing else: take the public key, hash it, keep the last twenty bytes, put 0x on the front. No network is involved anywhere in that calculation. So the same address exists on Ethereum, on Base, on Polygon, on BNB Chain — on every EVM chain there is and every one there will ever be. It does not need to be created, funded or registered first. It simply is.
That is a genuine convenience and a genuine hazard. Because the address is valid everywhere, sending to the right address on the wrong chain does not bounce, does not warn you and does not fail. It succeeds — somewhere else.
Here most guidance tells you the money is gone forever, and for this case that is simply not true. Whoever holds the key controls that address on every EVM chain, so funds sent to the wrong EVM network are still reachable by the person who owns the address — they are sitting on a different chain, not destroyed. What is lost is the order, not the money: the invoice was watching one network and the payment arrived on another, so nothing credits and both sides have to sort it out by hand.
- The genuinely unrecoverable cases are different, and worth knowing apart. Sending an EVM asset to a non-EVM chain — a Bitcoin, Tron or Solana address — cannot be undone, because the key that controls an EVM address does not control anything there. Neither can sending a token to a contract that has no way to move it back out.
- The protocol does protect against one related danger. Every EVM chain has its own chain id, and it is mixed into the signature, so a transaction signed for one network cannot be replayed on another by somebody who copies it. Your signature is chain-specific even though your address is not — which is exactly the asymmetry that makes the mistake so easy to make.
Gas: what it pays for, and who pays it
Every EVM chain charges for computation rather than for value. Gas measures the work an operation takes, and the fee is that work multiplied by a price per unit — so moving a large amount costs the same as moving a small one, and a plain transfer of the chain’s own currency is the cheapest thing you can do. A standard transfer is fixed at 21,000 units of gas on every chain in this family.
What varies is the price per unit, and it moves with demand. The protocol sets a base fee that everyone pays, and a sender can add a tip on top to be included sooner. That is why the same transfer can cost fractions of a cent on a quiet chain and real money on a busy one — the work did not change, the price of block space did.
Moving a token costs noticeably more than moving the native currency, because a token transfer is a contract call rather than a simple send. Both climb together when a chain is congested. Your customer pays the fee on top of your amount; you receive what you invoiced.
Tokens are contracts, not currency
The chain’s own currency is built into the protocol. Everything else — USDC, USDT and the rest — is a contract that keeps its own ledger of who owns what. Practically that means a token only exists on the chain its contract was deployed to, and the same name on two chains is two different contracts that never talk to each other.
It also means you cannot assume how a token counts. The standard makes the decimals field optional and states plainly that callers must not expect it to be present, so the number of decimal places is a property of each contract rather than of the asset. USDT is a working example: six decimals on Ethereum and eighteen on BNB Chain. Anything that hardcodes one figure and meets the other is wrong by a factor of a trillion.
The safe habit is to read decimals from the contract on the chain you are actually on, every time, and never to carry a number across from somewhere else.
Choosing between them
They differ in what a transfer costs, how long it takes to settle and which assets they carry — not in how they work. These are the EVM networks this product settles on, rendered from the live catalogue rather than written here.
- Ethereum Mainnet
- ETH · USDC · USDT
- Base
- ETH · USDC
- Polygon PoS
- POL · USDC
- BNB Chain
- BNB · USDT
- Lisk
- ETH
The practical rule is to meet the money where it already is. A customer holding USDC on one chain will pay from that chain, and asking them to bridge first is asking them to pay a fee, wait, and possibly give up. If you can accept on several, you remove the question.
Some of these are layer 2 networks — they run transactions themselves and post the data back to Ethereum, which is where the record ultimately settles. For a payment that difference shows up as lower fees rather than as anything you have to handle: the money arrives at your address on that network, the same as anywhere else.
What to plan for
The wrong-network mistake is the one to design against, because nothing in the protocol will stop it. The payment page names the network and shows the exact address for precisely this reason, and it is worth repeating the network back to a customer who is paying from an exchange.
- A payer sending a token needs the chain’s own currency as well, because the fee is paid in it. A wallet holding only USDC and none of the native currency cannot send until it is topped up — a common cause of a customer reporting that a transfer will not go through.
- Fees and confirmation times move with demand for block space, not with anything we control. A quiet day and a busy one are different products from your customer’s point of view, and the difference is largest on the busiest chains.
- Once confirmed, a payment cannot be reversed by anyone, including us. That is the protection against chargebacks, and it is the reason a mistaken send has to be resolved between the two people involved rather than by the network.
Questions
Why is my address the same on Ethereum, Base and Polygon?
Because an EVM address is calculated from your key alone — the last twenty bytes of the hash of your public key — and no network takes part in that calculation. The address therefore exists on every EVM chain at once, without being created on any of them. One key, one address, every chain in the family.
What happens if a payment is sent on the wrong EVM network?
It arrives — at the same address, on the other chain. Because the address is valid there too, nothing bounces and nothing warns anybody. The money is not destroyed and whoever holds the key can still reach it, but the invoice was watching a different network, so it does not credit and the two of you have to sort it out directly.
Is money sent to the wrong chain lost forever?
Not between EVM chains, despite what most guides say: the key that controls the address controls it everywhere in the family, so the funds are reachable. It IS unrecoverable if an EVM asset is sent to a Bitcoin, Tron or Solana address, because your key means nothing there — or if a token is sent to a contract with no way to release it.
Why does sending a token cost more than sending the chain’s own currency?
Because a token transfer runs a contract and a plain transfer does not. Gas prices computation, so the extra work costs extra. A standard native transfer is fixed at 21,000 gas; a token transfer is several times that, and both cost more when the chain is busy.
Does every token use 18 decimal places?
No, and assuming so is a real source of expensive bugs. The token standard makes decimals optional and says explicitly that callers must not expect the field to be present, so it belongs to each individual contract. USDT uses six decimals on Ethereum and eighteen on BNB Chain. Read the value from the contract on the chain you are on.
If my address works everywhere, can someone replay my transaction on another chain?
No. Each EVM chain has its own chain id and it is included in what you sign, so a signature valid on one network is invalid on the others. Your address is shared across chains but your signature is not — which is the protection you have, and also why the wrong-network mistake is so easy to make.
Is being paid on a layer 2 different from being paid on Ethereum?
Not in what you have to do. A layer 2 runs transactions itself and posts the data back to Ethereum, where it ultimately settles, and the practical effect for a payment is a lower fee. The money still arrives at your address on that network, and you still watch that network for it.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these documents. Each was read on the date shown rather than recalled.
Try the flow with test money first
Create an invoice on a test network, pay it with faucet funds, and watch detection and confirmation arrive as two separate events — the same pair you will build against in production.
Start free