What are Minimum Balance Requirements for Blockchains?
What Is a Minimum Balance Requirement?â
Some blockchains require an account to hold a small amount of the network's coin to exist, or charge a one-time amount to create a new account. These rules keep the network free of spam and empty accounts, because every account takes up storage on every node.
Depending on the network, the requirement is called a minimum balance, existential deposit, reserve, rent, or activation amount.
Networks With Minimums in Gem Walletâ
These are the amounts Gem Wallet uses:
| Network | Requirement | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Polkadot (Asset Hub) | Minimum balance that must remain (existential deposit) | 0.01 DOT |
| Solana | Minimum balance that must remain | 0.00089088 SOL |
| Solana | Creating the recipient's token account, when they don't have one | 0.00148844 SOL |
| XRP Ledger | Activating a new account, and the base reserve | 1 XRP |
| XRP Ledger | Extra reserve for each owned object, such as a token trust line | 0.2 XRP each |
| Stellar | Activating a new account, and the base reserve | 1 XLM |
| Algorand | Activating a new account | 0.1 ALGO, plus 0.1 ALGO for each asset you opt in to |
| TRON | Creating a new account when you send to an address that has never been used | The network's current charge, depending on your bandwidth |
Networks not in this table, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and other EVM networks, have no minimum balance. You only need enough of the network's coin to pay the network fee.
Network rules can change through upgrades or governance. Gem Wallet updates these amounts in the app when they change.
How Gem Wallet Handles Minimumsâ
| When | What Gem Wallet does |
|---|---|
| A send would leave less than the minimum balance after the fee | It stops the send and shows the minimum |
| You tap Max | It skips the minimum-balance check so you can empty the account where the network allows it. Reserves that the network locks, such as XRP and Stellar reserves, stay unavailable |
| You send a network's coin to a new account with less than its activation amount | It stops the send and shows the amount needed to create the account |
| A Solana token transfer needs a token account for the recipient | The creation amount is included in the Network Fee |
| A TRON transfer creates a new account | The creation charge is included in the Network Fee |
Reserves are not included in your available balance. For example, an XRP account with 10 XRP and one trust line shows 8.8 XRP available.
Common Questionsâ
Can I get the minimum balance back? On most networks, yes. Closing or emptying an account returns the reserve or deposit, subject to each network's rules. On XRP Ledger, deleting an account also costs a special fee. See What is the XRP Reserve Fee?.
What happens if my balance falls below the minimum? On Polkadot, an account below the existential deposit is removed and any remaining dust is lost. On XRP Ledger and Stellar, you can't spend below the reserve. On Solana, every account must stay rent-exempt, so a transaction that would leave less than the minimum is rejected.
Why can't I send my full balance? You're probably keeping back the minimum balance, a reserve, or the network fee. Tap Max to send everything the network allows.
Do Cardano, NEAR, or Cosmos have minimums? Gem Wallet doesn't apply a minimum balance on these networks, but each has its own rules. On Cardano, each transaction output must carry a small minimum amount of ADA, and NEAR accounts lock a little NEAR for storage. Gem Wallet shows an error before you confirm if a transfer breaks a network rule.