USDC vs credit card fees, worked through for a subscription and a one-off sale.

What the numbers assume

Fee comparisons go wrong on their assumptions, so here are ours first:

• Card: Stripe's published US rate for domestic cards, 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful transaction, as listed on stripe.com/pricing on 14 October 2026.
• Stripe stablecoins: Stripe's published rate of 1.5% of the transaction amount in USD, from the same page on the same day. Stripe says it includes conversion to fiat, wallet and AML screening, fraud prevention and gas sponsorship.
• Fianto: the merchant pays nothing. There is no Fianto fee during the beta. Subscription charges carry a flat 0.01 USDC network fee today, paid by the customer; one-off payments carry none.
• 1 USDC is counted as $1, and all amounts are rounded to the cent.
• Card surcharges are left out of the main tables. Stripe's page lists +1.5% for international cards and +1% when currency conversion is needed; they are shown separately below.
• Subscription billing software is left out of the main tables too. Stripe lists Billing at 0.7% of Billing volume on pay-as-you-go; that line is shown separately as well.

How much does a 20.00 monthly subscription cost in fees?

A monthly plan at 20.00, charged twelve times a year. On Fianto a monthly plan renews every 30 days, so a full year is slightly more than twelve charges; we count twelve on every row to keep the comparison fair.

The fixed 30 cents is what hurts a small price. On 20.00 it adds 1.5 percentage points on its own, so a card costs 4.4% of the charge, not 2.9%.

On Fianto the customer also pays, once, at checkout: the Solana fee of the transaction they sign, under $0.01; about 0.00197 SOL today in rent for the subscription account, which comes back when they reclaim it after the subscription ends; and about 0.00163 SOL once for the wallet setup account, only on the wallet's first subscription, which is not returned. Renewals need no SOL and no signature from the customer: the 0.01 USDC network fee goes toward the Solana costs of the automatic charges. Rent is a Solana rule, not a Fianto fee; account rent and reclaim explains it.

Stripe's subscription line for stablecoins assumes you can use them: as of 14 October 2026, Stripe's stablecoin subscriptions are a private preview for US businesses that you request access to. The comparison of the two products is in Stripe stablecoin subscriptions vs Fianto.

How much does a 120.00 one-off payment cost in fees?

One payment of 120.00: a course, a year of access sold as a single payment, an hour of consulting.

A one-off payment on Fianto carries no network fee in USDC and needs no account rent. The customer's wallet needs about 0.0009 SOL for the transaction to go through. At a larger price the card's fixed 30 cents matters less, so the card's share falls to 3.15%, but the percentage part grows with the price.

What about international cards and billing fees?

The tables use the domestic rate. As of 14 October 2026, Stripe's pricing page also lists +1.5% for international cards and +1% if currency conversion is required. Stripe Billing, which runs Stripe subscriptions, is listed at 0.7% of Billing volume on pay-as-you-go. Here is what each adds to the merchant's cost, if it applies:

So a 20.00 monthly plan paid with an international card and billed through Stripe Billing costs the merchant 0.88 + 0.30 + 0.14 = 1.32 a charge, 15.84 a year. The Billing line would apply to a Stripe stablecoin subscription too, since it runs on Stripe Billing: 0.30 + 0.14 = 0.44 a charge, 5.28 a year.

Fianto has no country surcharge, because nothing crosses a card network: the customer's USDC goes from their wallet to the merchant's in one Solana transaction, wherever both are.

What changes after the Fianto beta?

After the beta, the customer will pay a Fianto fee of about 0.1% to 0.5% on top of the price. The merchant still pays nothing, so the merchant's rows in the tables do not change. What the customer pays on top would become:

Those amounts sit on top of the 0.01 USDC network fee each subscription charge carries today. The checkout shows the customer the total of each charge before they approve anything, and the cap they approve for a subscription is the price plus the fees, so no charge can exceed it. The current figures are on the pricing page.

Costs the fee tables do not show

A rate is not the whole cost. Each way of getting paid has costs the other does not.

Costs cards have that wallets do not

• Disputes. As of 14 October 2026, Stripe's pricing page lists $15.00 for each dispute you receive. USDC payments on Fianto have no chargebacks, and Stripe's stablecoin page says its stablecoin payments have no disputes that turn into chargebacks either.
• The fixed per-charge fee, which makes small prices relatively expensive.
• Country and currency surcharges, shown above.

Costs wallets have that cards do not

• The customer needs a Solana wallet with USDC for the price and a little SOL for fees and rent. Getting USDC and SOL can cost them something at an exchange, which is outside these tables. Many customers have no wallet at all, and a card checkout asks nothing of them but the card.
• Payments arrive in USDC in your wallet, never in dollars. If you need bank money, converting it is a separate step with its own cost, which Fianto does not offer. Stripe stablecoin payments include conversion to fiat in their 1.5%.
• Refunds are manual. On Fianto a refund is the merchant sending USDC back from its own wallet; there is no refund API. More in chargebacks vs crypto refunds.
• Renewals depend on the wallet holding enough USDC on the due date. If it does not, Fianto retries, and after the fourth failed attempt the subscription ends; failed renewals and retries has the schedule.

None of this is tax or accounting advice. How USDC income is recorded depends on where you are; see accounting for USDC revenue.

Is USDC cheaper than cards?

For the merchant, on these assumptions, yes. On a 20.00 monthly plan the merchant keeps 10.56 a year more than with a domestic card, and 3.60 more than with Stripe stablecoins. On a 120.00 sale it keeps 3.78 and 1.80 more. On Fianto, the small costs of the chain move to the customer instead: 0.12 USDC a year for the subscription today, and SOL for rent and the first transaction.

Whether it is cheaper for your business depends on your customers. If they already hold USDC on Solana, a wallet checkout costs both sides less than a card. If they do not, a card is the payment they can actually make, and the cheaper rail is the one that gets used. Many merchants offer both. To start with USDC, read how to accept USDC on Solana or set up subscriptions.