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Fees
Hourglass charges three fees, each in USDC, each fixed in the programs' configuration at the rate below.
| Fee | Paid by | On | Rate | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trade fee | Buyer | the filled notional of each bid | 0.5% | at the auction clear; deposited with the bid |
| Delivery fee | Seller | the escrow released for certified hours | 2.5% | at settlement |
| Pledge fee | Lender | the advance | 0.5% | when the pledge is made |
- The trade fee is deposited with the bid at your limit price and charged on what actually fills at the clearing price; the rest comes back with the price improvement. It rounds up to one USDC base unit once per order.
- The delivery fee is taken only on hours delivered. Escrow refunded to the buyer, node-weeks not requested at notice and buyer defaults carry no delivery fee. It rounds down.
- The pledge fee is paid by the lender on top of the advance; the seller's debt is the advance alone.
Bonds are not fees
| Bond | Posted by | Amount | Returned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fault bond | Buyer filing a fault | 5% of the ticket's notional | when the fault is upheld or cured; otherwise paid to the seller |
| Inspector bond | Inspector | 10,000 USDC at launch | held while the inspector works |
| Collateral | Seller | 20% + 1.5% per week to delivery, of the notional sold | released at settlement, less any damages |
Example
One node-week bought at an example price of 2.20 USDC per GPU-hour and delivered in full:
| USDC | |
|---|---|
| Escrow (1,344 × 2.20) | 2,956.80 |
| Trade fee, paid by the buyer | 14.784 |
| Delivery fee, paid by the seller | 73.92 |
| Seller receives | 2,882.88 |
Solana network fees for each transaction are paid in SOL by the wallet that signs it.
Where fees go
The protocol keeps every fee above; none is shared with lenders, liquidity providers or agents. All of it goes to buying $HOURGLASS on the market and burning it: the fee vault's only exit is a buyback transaction that swaps its USDC for $HOURGLASS through Jupiter and burns what it bought.