Somebody sends you USDC on a network where you have never held anything. To swap it, or send it on, you need a little of that network's own coin — ETH on Base, POL on Polygon — because every transaction there pays its fee in that coin. It has nothing to do with how much money you have; it is about where the coin is.
Every swap in Smartable is signed and sent from your own wallet, so there is no way around that fee.
What the swap screen does
When the account holds none of the coin, the review says so before you press anything, keeps the swap's button disabled, and offers a way to get some:
- Get the coin from another network. If you hold something on another network that can be exchanged into this network's coin, the screen offers it. It is an ordinary cross-chain swap that you review and sign like any other. It pays its own fee on the network it starts from, so it is offered only where you can pay that fee.
- Once the coin has arrived, Back to your swap returns you to the trade you started.
If nothing you hold can be exchanged into the coin, the screen tells you to receive some or buy it.
Other ways to get it
- Send a small amount of the coin from an exchange or another wallet — on the right network.
- Buy it, where buying is available for that network.
A little is enough. The fee for one transaction is usually a small fraction of a coin, but it rises and falls with how busy the network is.
What the app shows
- “This account holds no ETH, and a swap on this network pays its network fee in ETH. Add some ETH to this account first. Nothing has been sent.”
- “Back to your swap”
Security note
Never share your recovery phrase, private key, password or device PIN. Smartable will never ask for them or ask you to sign a transaction to “verify” or “recover” your wallet.
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