Guides

"Insufficient funds for gas" with USDC or USDT in the wallet

You try to send USDC or USDT and the wallet stops you: not enough ETH or POL for the network fee. The stablecoins are there, but they cannot pay for their own transfer.

Check your wallet Send or swap without gas

What the wallet says

Depending on the wallet and its version, messages like these (MetaMask, Rabby and other EVM wallets):

insufficient funds for gas * price + value
You do not have enough ETH in your account to pay for transaction fees
Insufficient ETH balance for gas
You do not have enough POL to pay for transaction fees
Transaction may fail

Why it happens

Every transaction on an EVM chain pays its network fee in the chain's own coin: ETH on Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum and Robinhood Chain, POL on Polygon, HYPE on HyperEVM. The fee must be on the same chain as the tokens. ETH on another network or on an exchange does not count, and a token like USDC cannot pay the fee in a normal transfer. With 0 of the gas coin, the wallet refuses before it even sends.

How to fix it

Get a little of the gas coin onto that exact chain, for example a withdrawal from an exchange directly to Base or Arbitrum. This is usually the cheapest way if you can do it.
Send the stablecoins anyway with gasrescue: your wallet signs one message, we submit the transfer and pay the gas, and the fee comes out of the amount.
Or swap a few dollars of the stablecoins into ETH, POL or HYPE with gasrescue, so the wallet can pay its own fees from then on.

Step by step, by chain

Common questions

I have ETH, but on another network. Does that help?

No. Gas is paid per chain. ETH on Ethereum does not pay for a transfer on Base or Arbitrum. You would have to bridge it first, which itself needs gas on the source chain.

Could it be something other than gas?

Yes, rarely. If the token is frozen by its issuer, no amount of gas helps. The free wallet check at gasrescue.io/check shows both: missing gas and frozen tokens.

Does this work with a smart contract wallet?

Not yet. gasrescue needs a normal wallet that can sign typed messages, such as MetaMask, Rabby or Phantom.

Before you start

Blockchain transfers are final, so check the recipient carefully. Only sign on gasrescue.io, never share your seed phrase, and start with a small amount. gasrescue is in early access and independent of every wallet and chain named here.