What is TRC-20?
TRC-20 is the technical standard for fungible tokens on the Tron blockchain. It defines the functions a token's smart contract must include, so that any wallet, exchange, or app on Tron can hold and move the token in the same way. Tronscan, Tron's official block explorer, describes TRC-20 as fully compatible with Ethereum's ERC-20 standard.
The best-known TRC-20 token is USDT. Tronscan shows about 89.3 billion USDT on Tron, held by more than 74 million addresses, as of October 2026. Payment platforms, including Due, support USDT on Tron alongside other networks.
What do you need to send a TRC-20 token?
Sending a TRC-20 token is different from sending the same token on Ethereum. Every transfer needs four things in place:
- A Tron address: Tron addresses start with a "T" and use the Base58Check format, unlike Ethereum's "0x" addresses
- TRX for fees: if the sender hasn't staked TRX for resources, the network burns TRX from the account to cover the transfer, so a wallet holding only USDT usually can't send it
- The right network: the sender must choose Tron, not Ethereum or another chain, when a wallet or exchange offers the same token on several networks
- The right contract: any contract that includes the required functions counts as a TRC-20 token, so wallets identify tokens by contract address, not by name
How do TRC-20 fees work?
Tron doesn't charge gas the way Ethereum does. It meters two resources instead, per the Tron developer docs:
- Bandwidth: covers the size of the transaction, and each account gets 600 free bandwidth per day
- Energy: covers smart contract execution, which every TRC-20 transfer needs, and there is no free energy allowance
An account can get both resources by staking TRX. If it doesn't have enough, the network burns TRX instead, currently at 100 sun per unit of energy and 1,000 sun per unit of bandwidth. One TRX equals 1 million sun.
In practice, platforms that send USDT on Tron keep a TRX balance or stake TRX for energy, so transfers don't fail when resources run short. These rates are chain settings that can change through governance proposals. Like other gas fees, the cost is set in the network's own token, so its dollar value moves with the TRX price.
How is TRC-20 different from ERC-20?
TRC-20 was built to mirror ERC-20, so the token logic is nearly the same. The differences sit in the networks underneath:
Tron's virtual machine is largely compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, so most Solidity contracts can move to Tron with small changes. Tron also has an older native standard, TRC-10, which doesn't use smart contracts at all.
What functions does a TRC-20 contract include?
A token counts as TRC-20 if its contract includes six functions and two events, per the TRC-20 interface spec. These are what wallets and exchanges call to read balances and move tokens:
- totalSupply: the total number of tokens in existence
- balanceOf: the balance held by a given address
- transfer: sends tokens from the caller to another address
- approve: lets another address spend up to a set amount on the holder's behalf
- allowance: shows how much an approved address can still spend
- transferFrom: moves tokens using that approval, which is how apps and exchanges pull payments
The two events, Transfer and Approval, log each movement and approval on-chain. Most tokens also set a name, symbol, and decimals, which wallets use to display the token correctly.
Can TRC-20 USDT be frozen?
Yes. USDT's issuer can freeze tokens at specific addresses, and it does so on Tron. Tether, Tron, and TRM Labs launched a joint unit in 2024, the T3 Financial Crime Unit, which had frozen more than $450 million in illicit crypto assets by May 2026.
For businesses, the practical risk is receiving funds that later get frozen. That's why platforms run wallet screening on incoming Tron addresses before crediting a deposit.
How does Due support USDT on Tron?
Due supports TRC-20 USDT in both directions, per its supported payment methods:
- Pay-ins and payouts: USDT on Tron, with instant settlement
- Stablecoin virtual accounts: available on Tron, alongside Ethereum, Solana, and several other networks
- USDC: supported on other networks, but not on Tron
For platforms building on-ramps and off-ramps, that means one API covers USDT on Tron as well as stablecoins on other chains. For how USDT compares with USDC more broadly, see Due's guide to USDT vs USDC.
