Networks: why the same coin runs over different roads

Tether runs over Tron, over Ethereum and over further networks. Each time it is the same coin, but every one of those roads has its own addresses and its own fee. An address from one network takes nothing from another — and the network does not notice the mistake, because from where it stands none was made.

Bitcoin is less affected by this, because it essentially has one network and Lightning beside it as a second route. But anyone switching between several coins inside the same cashier meets the question again at once — and then the answer is different for every coin.

The drawing puts five routes in proportion. Absolute amounts deliberately do not appear: on the bitcoin main network the fee changes hourly, and a figure written in would be wrong tomorrow. The proportion between them, by contrast, stays stable enough to base a decision on.

In practice that means: where there is a choice, take not the fastest road but the one whose fee suits the amount. At twenty francs only the fee counts; at two thousand it matters more how many confirmations the cashier demands.

1. Look in the cashier. The network stands beside the coin, usually in a drop-down of its own. If only one is listed, the question is answered.
2. Choose the same one in the wallet. The wallet has to send on that same network. Many wallets show it in small type under the amount — exactly where nobody looks.
3. Compare the address. Addresses on different networks look different. A glance at the first few characters gives away most mix-ups before they cost money.

A transfer into the wrong network is lost as a rule. The amount then sits at an address nobody holds the key to, or at one that belongs to the operator but which the operator is not watching on that network. Some large exchanges recover such amounts for a fee; a cashier practically never does, and nobody can promise it in any case.

Anyone who wants to sidestep the network question entirely stays with bitcoin on the main network and does not switch coins at all. That costs more on small amounts — and saves the only trap this subject has, which is an expensive one.

What this page says about networks holds for the procedure and not for a particular operator. Which cashier carries which route stands in the cashier overview, and only where the cashier was actually opened.