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Depositing USDT Without Losing It: Networks, Memos and the Test Transfer — MEXC
Wrong-network deposits are the most common way people lose money on an exchange, and they have nothing to do with trading.
This is the single highest-consequence step in onboarding, and almost nobody explains it before it goes wrong. More first-time money is lost here than to any trade.
The core problem: USDT is not one thing
"USDT" exists as a separate token on many chains. The USDT on Tron is a different asset from the USDT on Ethereum, which is different again from the one on BNB Chain or Arbitrum. They are not interchangeable, and an address on one chain is meaningless on another.
When you deposit, you choose a network. The network you send on must match the network the deposit address was generated for. Send TRC20 USDT to an ERC20 address and the funds land on a chain where nobody controls that address. Recovery ranges from a slow support process with a fee, to permanently impossible.
How to get it right, every time
- Copy the deposit address from the exchange, with the network already selected. Never reuse an address you saved earlier — addresses rotate, and the network selector resets.
- Select the same network on the sending side. Read it twice. This is the step.
- Check for a memo or tag field. Some chains require one. If the deposit page shows a memo and you omit it, the transfer arrives at the exchange but is not credited to you, and recovery is a support ticket at best.
- Send a test transfer first. Ten or twenty USDT. Confirm it credits. Then send the rest. The test costs one extra network fee and removes essentially all of the risk.
Available networks on MEXC: TRC20, ERC20, BEP20, Arbitrum One, among others. Fees and confirmation times differ substantially between them — the cheapest network is often an order of magnitude cheaper than the most expensive for the identical result, so check before defaulting to whatever is preselected.
Withdrawal fees are separate, and worth checking first
The fee to get money *out* is set by the exchange per network and is not the same as the network fee to get in. If you plan to move funds regularly, check the withdrawal fee table before you pick which network to hold on. This is a five-minute check that compounds.
MEXC does not publish its deposit networks without an API key, so there is no table here. The numbers are on its own deposit screen, and that screen is the only authority on whether a chain is taking deposits right now.
What it showed when it was checked (2026-09-03):
- Deposit is a blue button in the top bar and again on Wallets > Overview. It opens a menu, not the page: On-Chain Deposit, Debit/Credit Card, Apple Pay & Google Pay, P2P Trading. On-Chain Deposit is the one that takes crypto from another exchange or wallet. - The page runs as three numbered steps down the left: Select Crypto, Network, Deposit Address. The address does not appear until the first two are chosen. - Select Crypto is a dropdown with quick chips beside it for USDT, BTC, ETH, TRX and SOL. - The network list is searchable, and every row carries two figures MEXC does not print anywhere else: an expected arrival time and a confirmation count. On the day observed: BSC / BNB Smart Chain (BEP20), tagged 'Most Used', about 7 seconds, 15 confirmations. TRX / Tron (TRC20), tagged 'Currently Fastest', about 6 seconds, 2 confirmations. PLASMA, about 1 minute 2 seconds, 20 confirmations. APTOS (APT), about 29 seconds, 12 confirmations. - The confirmation count is the honest answer to 'why has my deposit not arrived'. Two confirmations and fifteen confirmations are the same click and a very different wait. - A blue notice sits at the top of the network list: the crypto and the network must match the platform you are withdrawing from, or the assets will not be credited and cannot be retrieved. - Under the address: a 'Security verification of deposit address' row with a Verify link, a minimum deposit amount (0.01 USDT on the network observed), and 'Deposit Account: Spot Account' with a switch control beside it. - That last row is the one people miss. An on-chain deposit lands in the Spot account. It is not in the futures wallet until it is transferred there, and a reader looking at an empty futures balance will think the deposit failed. - The Tips panel adds three: a deposit sent by smart contract may not be credited, so send from an ordinary wallet; the address takes one asset only; and an amount below the minimum is not credited and is not recoverable.
*This was account owner's own screen captures, web, logged in. Address, UID and IP redacted -- structure only.. Read the minimum and the confirmation count on the screen itself before you send -- a chain can be paused between one visit and the next.*
The minimum that is not the minimum
Most venues set a minimum deposit below which funds are not credited at all — not returned, not held: not credited. It is usually small, but sending under it is a total loss of that transfer. Check the stated minimum for your chosen network before the test transfer.