From 16ee5261ecbb6fc9ada820379fec8db7fb7da480 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Liam Horne Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:48:38 -0500 Subject: [PATCH 1/3] docs: add Base Fee Model section to fee specification Add documentation explaining Tempo's fixed base fee model: - Fixed base fee vs EIP-1559 dynamic fees - Target cost of $0.001 for TIP-20 transfers - Congestion management via payment lanes, priority fees, and gas limits Also adds title to frontmatter for SEO. --- src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx | 16 +++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx b/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx index 3d5e7040..3cbc2312 100644 --- a/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx +++ b/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx @@ -1,5 +1,6 @@ --- -description: Technical specification for Tempo's fee system covering multi-token fee payment, fee sponsorship, token preferences, and validator payouts. +title: Fee Specification +description: "Technical specification for Tempo's fee system covering multi-token fee payment, fee sponsorship, token preferences, and validator payouts." --- # Fees @@ -20,6 +21,18 @@ Fees in the `max_base_fee_per_gas` and `max_fee_per_gas` fields of transactions, This unit is chosen to provide sufficient precision for low-fee transactions. Since TIP-20 tokens have only 6 decimal places (as opposed to the 18 decimal places of ETH), expressing fees directly in tokens per gas would not provide enough precision for transactions with very low gas costs. By scaling the fee paid by 10^-12, the protocol ensures that even small fee amounts can be accurately represented and calculated. +### Base Fee Model + +Tempo uses a fixed base fee rather than the dynamic base fee mechanism specified in EIP-1559. The base fee is set such that a TIP-20 transfer costs less than $0.001. + +The fixed base fee provides predictable transaction costs. Congestion is managed through: + +- **Payment lanes**: Reserved blockspace for TIP-20 transfers as specified in the [Payment Lane Specification](/protocol/blockspace/payment-lane-specification) +- **Priority fees**: The `max_priority_fee_per_gas` field allows transactions to bid for faster inclusion +- **Block gas limits**: Standard per-block gas limits constrain total computation + +Transactions can still specify `max_priority_fee_per_gas` to compete for inclusion during periods of high demand. + ## Fee payment Before the execution of each transaction, the protocol takes the following steps: @@ -242,3 +255,4 @@ The fee conversion process adds minimal overhead to transactions: - **Block settlement**: Amortized across all transactions in the block For complete technical specifications on the Fee AMM mechanism, see the [Fee AMM Protocol Specification](/protocol/fees/spec-fee-amm). + From 88ca270f17daba78679f22639021a81a51e2a6da Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Liam Horne Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:49:39 -0500 Subject: [PATCH 2/3] docs: expand fee motivation and base fee model clarity - Add explicit note that Tempo has no native token and fees are USD-denominated - Clarify that this removes need to hold volatile assets for gas - Expand base fee model to explain predictable unit economics for applications - Add detail on payment lanes preventing crowding from other network activity --- src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx | 16 ++++++++++------ 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx b/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx index 3cbc2312..88826b96 100644 --- a/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx +++ b/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx @@ -11,7 +11,9 @@ This spec lays out how fees work on Tempo, including how fees are calculated, wh ## Motivation -On Tempo, users can pay gas fees in any [TIP-20](/protocol/tip20/spec) token whose currency is USD, as long as that stablecoin has sufficient liquidity on the enshrined [fee AMM](/protocol/fees/spec-fee-amm.mdx) against the token that the current validator wants to receive. +Tempo has no native token. Transaction fees are paid directly in USD-denominated stablecoins. This design removes the need for users or applications to hold volatile assets for gas, keeping the entire payment experience USD-native. + +Users can pay gas fees in any [TIP-20](/protocol/tip20/spec) token whose currency is USD, as long as that stablecoin has sufficient liquidity on the enshrined [fee AMM](/protocol/fees/spec-fee-amm.mdx) against the token that the current validator wants to receive. In determining *which* token a user pays fees in, we want to maximize customizability (so that wallets or users can implement more sophisticated UX than is possible at the protocol layer), minimize surprise (particularly surprises in which a user pays fees in a stablecoin they did not expect to), and have sane default behavior so that users can begin using basic functions like payments even using wallets that are not customized for Tempo support. @@ -25,13 +27,15 @@ This unit is chosen to provide sufficient precision for low-fee transactions. Si Tempo uses a fixed base fee rather than the dynamic base fee mechanism specified in EIP-1559. The base fee is set such that a TIP-20 transfer costs less than $0.001. -The fixed base fee provides predictable transaction costs. Congestion is managed through: +The fixed base fee combined with USD-denominated payment provides predictable unit economics. Applications can budget for transaction costs without exposure to fee volatility or native token price fluctuations. + +Congestion is managed through: -- **Payment lanes**: Reserved blockspace for TIP-20 transfers as specified in the [Payment Lane Specification](/protocol/blockspace/payment-lane-specification) -- **Priority fees**: The `max_priority_fee_per_gas` field allows transactions to bid for faster inclusion -- **Block gas limits**: Standard per-block gas limits constrain total computation +- **Payment lanes**: Reserved blockspace for TIP-20 transfers as specified in the [Payment Lane Specification](/protocol/blockspace/payment-lane-specification). This guarantees capacity for payments even during high general network activity. +- **Priority fees**: The `max_priority_fee_per_gas` field allows transactions to bid for faster inclusion during periods of high demand. +- **Block gas limits**: Standard per-block gas limits constrain total computation per block. -Transactions can still specify `max_priority_fee_per_gas` to compete for inclusion during periods of high demand. +The payment lane mechanism ensures that payment transactions are not crowded out by other network activity. Fees remain stable and low even when the network is processing high volumes of non-payment transactions. ## Fee payment From 4ee0bd5e5d45344a20467bdbc3db53336908a55c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Liam Horne Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 14:36:52 -0500 Subject: [PATCH 3/3] docs: add payment lane allocation details - Specify ~94% blockspace reserved for payments, 6% for general computation - Note allocation is conservative and may increase as throughput scales - Clarify that general congestion cannot affect payment throughput or fees --- src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx b/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx index 88826b96..3446106a 100644 --- a/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx +++ b/src/pages/protocol/fees/spec-fee.mdx @@ -31,11 +31,11 @@ The fixed base fee combined with USD-denominated payment provides predictable un Congestion is managed through: -- **Payment lanes**: Reserved blockspace for TIP-20 transfers as specified in the [Payment Lane Specification](/protocol/blockspace/payment-lane-specification). This guarantees capacity for payments even during high general network activity. +- **Payment lanes**: Reserved blockspace for TIP-20 transfers as specified in the [Payment Lane Specification](/protocol/blockspace/payment-lane-specification). Approximately 94% of blockspace is reserved for payment transactions, with the remaining 6% available for general computation. This allocation is conservative and may increase over time as total throughput scales. - **Priority fees**: The `max_priority_fee_per_gas` field allows transactions to bid for faster inclusion during periods of high demand. - **Block gas limits**: Standard per-block gas limits constrain total computation per block. -The payment lane mechanism ensures that payment transactions are not crowded out by other network activity. Fees remain stable and low even when the network is processing high volumes of non-payment transactions. +The payment lane mechanism ensures that payment transactions are not crowded out by other network activity. General network congestion from non-payment use cases cannot affect payment throughput or fees, providing the consistency that payment applications require. ## Fee payment