# What Moving Between Networks Actually Costs

> The fees people count and the ones they do not, including the native asset you need before you can move anything.

- Source: https://cryptofeewatch.com/bridging-costs-explained/
- Published: 2026-05-29
- Author: Tom Beecher
- Publication: Crypto Fee Watch — What a transaction really costs, measured
- Topic: swap
- Tags: bridging, networks, costs

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Moving an asset from one network to another costs more than the bridge fee, and the extras are consistently underestimated. We measured against [a crypto swapping service with a published rate](https://collectnexchange.cy/services/swap), which states the components separately rather than as a blended number.

## What people count

The bridge's own fee, usually a small percentage or a flat amount.

## What they do not

**The approval transaction.** Before a bridge can move your tokens it needs permission, which is a transaction with its own fee.

**The deposit transaction.** Another fee on the source network.

**The transaction on the destination network.** Whatever you do with the asset once it arrives.

**The native asset problem.** To transact on the destination network you need that network's own currency for fees. If you have none, you must acquire some first, which requires another transaction from somewhere else.

That last one catches people. Arriving on a network with tokens and no native asset means the tokens cannot move.

## The time cost

Bridges take minutes to considerably longer depending on design and conditions.

During that interval you hold a bridged representation rather than the asset, which is a claim on the bridge.

## The risk cost

Bridges have accounted for a disproportionate share of total losses in the sector.

Holding a bridged representation for any longer than necessary is an exposure that has repeatedly proven real.

## The measured comparison

Doing it manually, on a typical route, costs between one and two percent of the amount moved once all fees are counted, plus the interval. Funds carry additional reporting costs, which [a fintech payment gateway](https://collectnexchange.cy/industries/fintech) is structured around.

A cross-network swap costs between 0.4 and 1 percent, in one operation, with the provider absorbing the bridge relationship.

For most sizes the swap is cheaper as well as simpler, which is the opposite of the intuition that doing it yourself must be cheaper.

## Where manual still makes sense

Very large amounts, where the provider's margin exceeds the fixed costs and you can absorb the operational complexity.

And where you specifically want the bridged asset rather than something else on the destination network.

## The practical advice for payment operations

Avoid cross-network movement as a routine step.

Accept payment on the network you can settle from and name it on the invoice. That removes bridges from the process entirely, which is the only complete mitigation. Run your own comparison against [the list of countries covered](https://collectnexchange.cy/company/supported-countries) before accepting any quoted rate.

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This article explains how something works. It is not financial advice.
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