What is an affiliate fee on THORChain?

An affiliate fee is a share of a swap that goes to the interface which routed it. The swap memo sets the share in basis points, and the protocol pays the fee out to the affiliate.

Also called affiliate fees.

How the fee is set

An interface puts its THORName and the fee into the memo of each swap it routes. The fee is written in basis points, and one basis point is a hundredth of a percent, so 100 basis points is one percent.

The fee is taken from the swap amount. For example, 50 basis points on a swap of 1 BTC is half a percent of that amount, or 0.005 BTC.

How the fee is paid out

Fees build up until they pass a threshold, and then the protocol pays them out automatically. Payouts are made in RUNE by default.

A THORName can also choose a preferred payout asset, such as BTC or USDC. The protocol converts the fees into that asset before paying them out.

Related terms

THORNameA THORName is a human-readable name on THORChain that points to addresses on several chains. Affiliates use one to collect fees, and it stays registered until the blocks it was paid for run out.MemoA memo is a line of text attached to a THORChain transaction that tells the network what to do with the coins, such as which coin you want back and who receives it. Anyone can read it, because it sits in the public transaction.RUNERUNE is THORChain’s native asset. Node operators bond it to take part in the network, and it sits on one side of every pool of liquidity, so a swap from Bitcoin to Ether runs from BTC to RUNE to ETH in one flow.THORChainTHORChain is a network that swaps native coins across chains, such as Bitcoin for Ether, with no bridges and no wrapped tokens. The coins sit in vaults on their home chains, secured by about 100 independent node operators.Liquidity poolA THORChain liquidity pool sets the price of a swap from the balances in the pool. The bigger the trade compared with the pool, the larger the slip, and that slip is the fee paid to liquidity providers.

Sources: Affiliate fee guide, THORChain developer docs · Fees, THORChain documentation

Updated November 1, 2026. All terms