Migrating from cefi to defi and wanted to inquire on the lowest-fee methods for transferring from USDC to UST onto Terra. I have checked out a couple of the methods like coinbase to kucoin or through binance but thought I’d get others’ opinions.
Thanks!
Terra noob
The fastest and least expensive route I have found so far is through KuCoin. Coinbase to KuCoin to buy UST / LUNA / ANC then transfer to Terra Wallet using Terra Network. (I haven’t found a DEX yet that can do the same work for less.)
Do you do USDC->Kucoin and then swap using their USDC-UST pair there or do you swap for UST on coinbase and then transfer?
At this exact moment in time, the conversion of USDC is $10,000 USDC should get you 9994.65 UST. At Coinbase right now converting $10,000 USDC to UST shows me only receiving $9,747.09 UST. So $250 UST to convert. NO THANKS. I’ll do it at KuCoin.
Get a TERRA wallet address…
Buy UST on Coinbase Pro
Instant transfer Coinbase Pro → Coinbase
Transfer Coinbase → Coinbase Wallet (incurs gas fee)
Connect Coinbase Wallet to Terra Bridge (https://bridge.terra.money) and send UST from ETH mainnet to TERRA mainnet (incurs gas fee)
Swap UST to ANC on Terra Station (https://station.terra.money)
The original question was about going from USDC to UST. (NOTE – There is not currently a USDC/UST pair on Coinbase Pro, however, you can “convert” USDC to UST on plain-old-Coinbase. Go figure. Alternatively, you can buy UST with US$ on CBP.) If you already own USDC, or choose to buy it with US$ on CB or CBP for ZERO cost, you can send your USDC to your KuCoin account for less than $3.00 currently. There you can trade your USDC for UST. (Trading at KuCoin starts at 0.10% and goes down.) You can then send your UST directly from KuCoin to your Terra Station wallet address using the Terra Network. (Way cheaper than Ethereum.) All in this plan can be executed in fewer steps at a fraction of the cost --AND-- you dont have to buy or own ETH to pay for gas anywhere.
From your experience when is the spread the tighest? Weekends I assume? It is hovering around 0.996 atm. Transferring large amounts so spread is not negligible unfortunately.
ddsta,
I’ve been trying to pinpoint this myself though it’s not something I lose sleep over. Regardless of time/timing I like to have coindataflow.com/en/pair/usdc-ust open on one monitor to see what I “should” be getting while working up a trade on my other monitor.
Appreciate the link, think I understand the ecosystem a bit more and am more confident losing a bit given that I’m gaining 20-50% APY as soon as I transfer in. Thanks!
In case I want to pull some UST out to pay for something in fiat, what has been your cheapest way to off ramp? Send UST to KuCoin, sell for USDC, send to coinbase, USDC-USD?
That is exactly what I do. What I would love is for CBP to start allowing us to choose Terra Network to move money (like KuCoin does). That would save a ton on gas fees for sure.
So far the cheapest way I’ve found is to buy usdt from kucoin through banxa (3%~) Then trade usdt for ust or luna (0.1%) then withdraw asset through terra network (1luna~). Now converting back to fiat is a different story lol.
Best and simplest approach i’ve found is to use Crypto.com to buy Luna (no fee) then transfer to Terra Station wallet (fee charged). From there, swap to UST (fee charged).
Didn’t know that CBPro allowed you to buy UST with USD…will have to look into that as an option (but someone said the exchange rates were high on CBpro to do this, and recommended kucoin instead).
UPDATE: checked out CBpro…looks like i could buy UST for 1.003 - 1.004 per $. So only paying $3 plus network transfer fees for a 1000 UST purchase. that’s not bad, considering i pay almost $2 to swap Luna to UST, and probably $.50 + to send the luna to Terra Station. saves me a step for very little extra fees. Will definitlely price compare that with Crypto.com’s exchange rate next time i ship any funds to Terra.
Just be aware that it is wrapped UST and not native. So you’ll incur gas fees to swap on a DEX for UST if you’re looking to use it on Terra.
Thank you for calling that out. i likely would not have figured that out until too late. these exchanges are all very unclear about stuff like that…they really need to label every coin with the associated blockchain designator.
I currently do Binance LUNA > withdraw to terrastation fee was increased to 0.002 LUNA. There’s no need for memo only for deposits to Binance. Then swap to UST in app. Hopefully they add UST soon.
Hey, you specifically called out coinbase wallet for the intermediary here…is there a reason to use coinbase wallet instead of some other wallet? to my knowledge, they don’t give you free transfers or anything like that…so wondering if there’s some other benefit or if the approach you mapped would be just as good with any wallet.
So I just recently took the crypto.com route, and the total cost was minus1.3% of the USDC amount I started with by the time it landed in anchor earn and started earning. Based on your experience, is total amount minus 1.3% too high? When considering doing in thousands like 50K USD + it 1.3% adds up! Where I got nailed is on the spread from Crypto.com buying LUNA, and then swapping it for UST at Terra Station. Could have waited for LUNA to go up I suppose, but that could have taken days, etc.
Can anyone else comment in terms of the total cost in percentage for on ramp to anchor? What % is the KuCoin for example?
yes, the crypto.com spread is what kills you. i try to time things well, and so far have been lucky in that the luna appreciated by the time i swapped it for ust.
Did my second deposit and this time around I reduced the total cost by .6% (without waiting for price increase), primarily due to buying in smaller chunks on CDC. I wasn’t aware previously the spread increases the more LUNA is bought on CDC. Instead, made a ton of smaller buy orders and that reduced the overall cost for the Anchor Earn. I also recommend XLM from CDC, then transfer to Okcoin, then swap for LUNA and onto Terra Station. Or just onramp fiat to Okcoin and buy the LUNA there. Okcoin provides the ability to buy/ sell the though limit order as well.