Bonds & Fees
The refundable deposits that keep everyone honest, and the platform fee — what's locked, what it costs, and when you get it back.
Every trade locks up two different kinds of money on top of the trade amount itself: a bond (a refundable deposit that gives you skin in the game) and a fee (Trustfy's actual, non-refundable charge for facilitating the trade). They're shown together, locked together in one signature, and governed by the same mechanism — which is why this guide covers both at once.
Expected time
9 minutes
Difficulty
Intermediate
You'll need
Understanding of Escrow helps
Why bonds exist#
Without a bond, matching a trade and then vanishing would cost you nothing — leaving your counterparty's funds locked and their time wasted for no reason. A bond makes that behavior costly, which is what keeps the marketplace usable for everyone. A fee, by contrast, isn't about deterrence — it's simply what Trustfy charges to run the platform.
The three commitments, side by side#
Ad Bond / Matching Bond
Default: 1% of trade amount
Floor 5 · Ceiling 500 USDT · governance-adjustable
Same bond, two names: the Ad Bond when a maker posts it creating an ad, the Matching Bond when a taker posts it matching one. Discourages matching a trade and then walking away.
Dispute Bond
Default: 1% of trade amount
Floor 10 · Ceiling 1,000 USDT · governance-adjustable
Posted by both sides. Its floor and ceiling are set higher than the Ad Bond / Matching Bond's, so it still tends to be the larger of the two — it specifically backs the cost of arbitration if the trade ends up disputed.
Trading Fee
Default: Maker 0.5% · Taker 1%
Small minimum applies · governance-adjustable
Not refundable like a bond — this is Trustfy's actual fee, collected on a completed trade.
What happens to a bond over time
Locked
Deposited in one signature when an ad is published or matched. Held by the smart contract, not by Trustfy.
Refunded in full
On a normal completed trade, or a cancellation within your free allowance.
Partially forfeited
On excess cancellations, or per an arbitrator's ruling against you in a dispute.
The percentages above are current defaults, not fixed constants — see Bonds and fees are admin-configurable just below for why, and why that's still safe.
Bonds and fees are admin-configurable#
None of these percentages are hardcoded into Trustfy forever — Ad Bond, Matching Bond, Dispute Bond, maker fee, and taker fee are all parameters in the smart contract that platform governance can adjust over time. This isn't a backdoor: every change is a direct on-chain transaction from the governing wallet, and every past and pending change is publicly visible on the block explorer.
The number that actually matters is the one on your screen
When bonds and fees are locked#
For a maker, the Ad Bond, Dispute Bond, and fee are all reserved the moment an ad is published, in one signature. For a taker, the same rate — called the Matching Bond instead — plus Dispute Bond and fee are reserved the moment they match an ad. Everything locks together; nothing is deposited piecemeal.
When bonds are refunded — and when fees are collected#
| Situation | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Trade completes normally | Both bonds refunded in full to both traders; the fee is the only amount actually collected. |
| Cancelled within your free allowance | Bond refunded in full, no fee charged — your first 3 ad cancellations cost nothing. |
| Cancelled beyond your free allowance | 20% of your Ad Bond is forfeited as a deterrent — maker/ad-cancellation only, see below. |
| Counterparty defaults on payment | You get your Trade Amount and your own bond, dispute bond, and fee back in full — the non-paying buyer's Matching Bond is forfeited to the treasury as a penalty, not paid to you. |
| Lose a dispute | Some or all of your Dispute Bond funds the cost of arbitration, per the ruling — see Disputes. |
Bonds and fees are separate from your trade amount
The fee, in detail#
| Fee | Who pays | Current default |
|---|---|---|
| Maker fee | Whoever published the ad | 0.5% of the trade amount, small minimum applies |
| Taker fee | Whoever matched the ad | 1% of the trade amount, small minimum applies |
If you were referred to Trustfy by another user, a portion of the fee collected on your trades is automatically shared with them — it never costs you anything extra on top of the standard maker or taker fee.
Three different charges, easy to mix up#
Traders new to Trustfy often conflate these three — they're genuinely different things:
- Bond — a refundable deposit in USDT. You get it back on a normal trade.
- Fee — Trustfy's actual, non-refundable charge in USDT, only collected on a completed trade.
- Gas — a small network charge in BNB, paid to BNB Smart Chain itself, not to Trustfy. See Gas for the full breakdown.
Do I need to top up my bond as trade sizes get bigger? No — each trade's bond is calculated automatically from that specific trade's amount, floored and capped so it's never trivially small or unreasonably large.
Can I trade without posting a bond? No — a bond is required for every ad and every match; it's the mechanism that makes the whole system trustworthy.
Where does a forfeited bond go? Never to the counterparty as a windfall — it goes toward the cost of arbitration and platform upkeep, per the smart contract's rules.
Do I pay fees in USDT or BNB? Fees and bonds are both calculated and paid in USDT, same as the trade itself — BNB is only used separately for gas.
Is there a fee just for browsing or creating an account? No — fees only apply to an actual completed trade.
Why is the taker fee higher than the maker fee? Makers take on the work of setting competitive terms and waiting to be matched; a lower maker fee reflects that, at current default rates.
Can Trustfy just change the fee or bond rate on me mid-trade? No — the rate is locked in and shown to you the moment you create or match a trade. Governance can change the default rate for future trades, but it can never alter a bond or fee on a trade that's already in progress.
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