Fees & Economics — Vellum Cash GitBook

§The 0.35% Base Route Fee Model#

Vellum Cash maintains a flat, transparent fee schedule with zero hidden slippage or variable bridge spreads:

Total Deductions = (Amount × 0.0035 + 0.0025 if currency changes) + Estimated Gas Overhead

Allocation of the 0.35% Base Fee:

50% (0.175%): Distributed to $VELLUM token holders and stakers.

20% (0.070%): Buyback and burn of $VELLUM tokens, reducing circulating supply.

20% (0.070%): Distributed to the active Relayer Node that executed Stage 04 clean egress.

10% (0.035%): Allocated to the core team for protocol development and operations.

The 70% holder-directed share (accrual + burn) is detailed in $VELLUM Token & Revenue Accrual.

§Routing Policy Fee Tiers#

Depending on the routing policy selected in the terminal, additional protocol fees are assessed to cover relayer queue buffering and multi-tx sharding overhead:

Routing Policy	Total Route Fee	Premium Breakdown	Conversion Fee*	Proof / Settlement Window
Standard Shield	0.35%	0.35% Base	+0.25% if currency changes	~1.5 min* (Immediate)
Paranoid Delay	0.40%	0.35% Base + 0.05% Poisson Buffer	+0.25% if currency changes	10 – 45 min* (Variable)
Tranche Shred	0.45%	0.35% Base + 0.10% Multi-Tranche	+0.25% if currency changes	1 – 4 hours* (Multi-Tranche)

The 0.25% conversion fee applies on top of the routing policy fee whenever the destination currency differs from the source currency (e.g. ETH → USDC).

Paranoid Delay (+0.05%): Compensates relayers for extended capital lockup and non-deterministic Poisson queue indexing.

Tranche Shred (+0.10%): Subsidizes independent multi-relayer transactions, cross-block gas variance buffers, and multi-witness aggregation.

§Variable Gas Allowance#

Because the relayer pays the destination network gas fee in native currency, the terminal calculates a variable gas buffer based on dynamic network congestion. Any unused gas buffer is automatically refunded to the recipient.

§Cross-Currency Conversion Fee (0.25%)#

Bridges where the destination currency differs from the source currency incur an additional 0.25% conversion fee, charged in USD on the send amount and deducted before the payout is computed:

Example Route	Currency Change	Conversion Fee
ETH (Ethereum) → USDC (Arc)	Yes — ETH ≠ USDC	+0.25%
USDC (Arc) → ETH (Base)	Yes — USDC ≠ ETH	+0.25%
SOL (Solana) → USDC (Solana)	Yes — SOL ≠ USDC	+0.25%
USDC (Base) → USDC (Arc)	No — same currency	none
ETH (Base) → ETH (Ethereum)	No — same currency	none

The fee compensates relayer liquidity providers for facilitating the internal token conversion at settlement.

It is stacked on top of the routing policy fee: e.g. a Tranche Shred route converting ETH → USDC totals 0.45% + 0.25% = 0.70%.

The terminal itemizes it as CROSS-CURRENCY CONVERSION FEE (+0.25%) whenever it applies; routes that preserve the currency show no such line.

Conversion pricing uses the same live Binance/CoinGecko oracle feed as the quote itself — there is no hidden spread added on top.

§Transfer Limits ($50 minimum / $25,000 maximum USDC)#

All conduit amounts are bounded by a strict USDC-denominated window, enforced server-side at order creation:

Parameter	Value	Notes
Minimum Transfer	$50.00 USDC	Hard floor; smaller orders are rejected
Maximum Transfer	$25,000.00 USDC	Hard ceiling; larger orders are rejected
Denomination	USDC equivalent	Converted via live ETH/SOL oracle prices
Evaluated On	`amount × live token price`	At the moment of order creation

sendUsd = amount × LiveTokenPriceUsd

A 0.35% route fee means the economic floor for relayer profitability sits at the $50 minimum — below it, fixed gas overhead would consume the entire fee. The $25,000 ceiling keeps individual conduits within the liquidity capacity of a single shielded tranche.

§Step-by-Step Economic Example#

Assuming a user bridges 2.5000 ETH from Ethereum Mainnet to the Arc Blockchain:

CODE

Gross Deposit Amount:          2.5000 ETH   (→ settles as USDC on Arc: currency changes)
Protocol Route Fee (0.35%):    -0.00875 ETH
Conversion Fee (0.25%):        -0.00625 ETH
Estimated Relayer Gas:         -0.00250 ETH
-------------------------------------------------
Net Clean Amount Received:     2.48250 ETH / USDC equivalent