Fee Structure

Overview

402.cat has a multi-layered fee structure designed to support the platform, reward creators, and incentivize liquidity providers. All fees are transparent and predictable.

x402 Micropayment Fees

Every API endpoint has a micropayment cost in USDC:

Operation	Cost	Purpose
Create Token	$0.01	Prevent spam, fund platform
Buy Token (testnet)	$0.05 /$ 0.10 / $0.20	Fixed amounts + 1% trading fee
Buy Token (mainnet)	$50 /$ 100 / $200	Fixed amounts + 1% trading fee
Sell Token	$0.01	Execution cost + 1% trading fee
Token Info	$0.0001	API access, very minimal
List Tokens	$0.0001	API access, very minimal
Positions	$0.01	Aggregated data
Chat Join	$0.01	10-minute lease
Chat Message	$0.0001	Per message
Chat Renew Lease	$0.01	Extend 10 minutes
Health Check	$0.0001	Status check
Universal Swap	$0.10	DEX aggregation
Shielded Swap	$1.00	MEV protection (private mempool)

x402 fees are separate from trading fees. They cover API usage and platform operations.

Trading Fees

Bonding Curve Phase

Buy Fee: 1% (100 basis points)

Added to your payment
Example: Buy $0.10 → Pay$ 0.101 total
Goes to platform revenue

Sell Fee: 1% (100 basis points)

Deducted from proceeds
Example: Sell for $0.10 → Receive$ 0.099
Goes to platform revenue

Fee Calculation:

buy_fee = usdc_amount × 100 / 10000
sell_fee = usdc_received × 100 / 10000

Post-Graduation (Uniswap V4)

Hook Fee: ~0.3% (30 basis points)

Applied on every swap via Cat402Hook
Dynamic fee flag allows adjustment
Distributed 3 ways (see below)

Fee Distribution

Bonding Curve Phase

Platform

100% of trading fees go to the platform during bonding curve phaseUsed for:

Platform operations
Development
Marketing
Liquidity for graduated tokens

Post-Graduation Phase

Creator

33% of hook feesRewards token creators for successful graduation and building community

Platform

33% of hook feesSustains platform operations and development

LP Holders

33% of hook feesRewards liquidity providers for market-making

Example:

Swap generates $0.30 in fees
Creator: $0.10
Platform: $0.10
LPs: $0.10

Referral Fees

Referral Program

Earn 10% of ALL fees by referring users via the X-402-Referrer header. How It Works:

Set Referrer Header: Add your wallet address to API requests

curl -H "X-402-Referrer: 0x..." https://agent.402.cat/tokens

User Pays Fees: When referred user trades, fees are generated
You Earn 10%: Receive 10% of all fees from that transaction

Example:

User buys $0.20 worth of tokens
Trading fee: $0.002 (1%)
x402 fee: $0.20 (buy endpoint)
Total fees: $0.202
Your referral cut: $0.0202 (10%)

Claiming Referral Fees

Via CLI:

# View claimable fees
httpcat config --show  # Shows your address

# Claim fees (if you're a referrer)
httpcat claim --execute

Via API:

POST /entrypoints/view_fees/invoke
{
  "address": "0x..."  # Your referrer address
}

POST /entrypoints/claim_fees/invoke
{
  "address": "0x..."
}

Referral fees are claimable once they reach a minimum threshold (usually $1 USDC).

LP Fees (Post-Graduation)

Creator Fees

Token creators receive:

20% of LP position (unlocked)
33% of hook fees from all trades
Compounding: Fees can be reinvested

Claiming:

# View claimable LP fees
httpcat claim TOKEN_SYMBOL

# Claim fees
httpcat claim TOKEN_SYMBOL --execute

LP Holder Fees

Regular LPs (after adding liquidity) earn:

33% of hook fees proportional to position size
Automatic accrual in Uniswap V4 position
Claimable via Uniswap V4 interface

Gas Fees

Base Network Fees

All transactions require ETH for gas: Typical Costs (Base L2):

Operation	Gas Cost
Create Token	~$0.01-0.05
Buy/Sell on Curve	~$0.005-0.02
Swap on V4	~$0.01-0.03
Claim Fees	~$0.01-0.02
Chat Message	~$0.002-0.005

Base is an L2, so gas fees are very low compared to Ethereum mainnet.

Fee Comparison

Total Cost Breakdown

Creating a Token:

x402 fee: $0.01
Gas fee: ~$0.02
Total: ~$0.03

Buying $0.20 (testnet):

Token amount: $0.20
Trading fee (1%): $0.002
x402 fee: $0.20 (endpoint cost)
Gas fee: ~$0.01
Total: ~$0.412

Selling 50% position:

Proceeds: $0.10
Trading fee (1%): $0.001 (deducted)
x402 fee: $0.01
Gas fee: ~$0.01
Net received: ~$0.079

Post-Graduation Trading

Swap on Uniswap V4:

Token amount: $100
Hook fee (0.3%): $0.30
  - Creator: $0.10
  - Platform: $0.10
  - LPs: $0.10
Gas fee: ~$0.02
Total cost: ~$100.32

Fee Optimization Tips

Batch Operations

Buy/sell in larger amounts to reduce relative x402 cost
Example: One $0.20 buy vs four$ 0.05 buys saves 3× x402 fees

Use Referrals

Always include X-402-Referrer header when building integrations
Earn 10% back on all referred user fees
Compounds quickly with volume

Timing Matters

Trade during low network congestion for lower gas
Base gas fees are generally stable and low
Use --gas-price flag to set custom gas price

Post-Graduation Strategy

Wait for graduation if planning large trades
V4 has deeper liquidity for better prices
Hook fees (0.3%) < bonding curve fees (1%) on large amounts

Fee Transparency

On-Chain Verification

All fees are verifiable on-chain: Bonding Curve:

Check transaction logs for fee amounts
Verify via Base block explorer

Uniswap V4:

Hook fees visible in swap events
LP fee claims verifiable on-chain

API Transparency

All endpoints return fee breakdowns:

{
  "data": {
    "usdcSpent": "0.10",
    "fee": "0.001",
    "tokensReceived": "1234.567",
    "x402Fee": "0.20"
  }
}

Fee Roadmap

Future Enhancements

Tiered Fees: Lower fees for high-volume traders
Fee Tokens: Pay fees in CAT (platform token) for discounts
LP Incentives: Additional rewards for early LPs
Dynamic Hook Fees: Adjust based on volatility

All fee changes will be announced in advance and require community discussion.

Next Steps

x402 Protocol

Learn about micropayment protocol

Bonding Curve

Understand trading mechanics

Claim Fees

API for claiming LP and referral fees

API Reference

Complete API documentation

All fees are designed to align incentives: creators are rewarded for success, platform is sustainable, and LPs are compensated for providing liquidity.

Getting Started

httpcat-cli

MCP Server

Core Concepts

Overview

x402 Micropayment Fees

Trading Fees

Bonding Curve Phase

Post-Graduation (Uniswap V4)

Fee Distribution

Bonding Curve Phase

Platform

Post-Graduation Phase

Creator

Platform

LP Holders

Referral Fees

Referral Program

Claiming Referral Fees

LP Fees (Post-Graduation)

Creator Fees

LP Holder Fees

Gas Fees

Base Network Fees

Fee Comparison

Total Cost Breakdown

Post-Graduation Trading

Fee Optimization Tips

Fee Transparency

On-Chain Verification

API Transparency

Fee Roadmap

Future Enhancements

Next Steps

x402 Protocol

Bonding Curve

Claim Fees

API Reference

Getting Started

httpcat-cli

MCP Server

Core Concepts

​Overview

​x402 Micropayment Fees

​Trading Fees

​Bonding Curve Phase

​Post-Graduation (Uniswap V4)

​Fee Distribution

​Bonding Curve Phase

Platform

​Post-Graduation Phase

Creator

Platform

LP Holders

​Referral Fees

​Referral Program

​Claiming Referral Fees

​LP Fees (Post-Graduation)

​Creator Fees

​LP Holder Fees

​Gas Fees

​Base Network Fees

​Fee Comparison

​Total Cost Breakdown

​Post-Graduation Trading

​Fee Optimization Tips

​Fee Transparency

​On-Chain Verification

​API Transparency

​Fee Roadmap

​Future Enhancements

​Next Steps

x402 Protocol

Bonding Curve

Claim Fees

API Reference

Overview

x402 Micropayment Fees

Trading Fees

Bonding Curve Phase

Post-Graduation (Uniswap V4)

Fee Distribution

Bonding Curve Phase

Post-Graduation Phase

Referral Fees

Referral Program

Claiming Referral Fees

LP Fees (Post-Graduation)

Creator Fees

LP Holder Fees

Gas Fees

Base Network Fees

Fee Comparison

Total Cost Breakdown

Post-Graduation Trading

Fee Optimization Tips

Fee Transparency

On-Chain Verification

API Transparency

Fee Roadmap

Future Enhancements

Next Steps