<p>There is a minimum UTxO transaction size of 1 ADA not including fees. That means the absolute minimum transaction is <code>1 ADA + fees</code>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-20T10:10:21.787Z
Is there any information why this is the case? This might become a bit of a problem in case the price keeps rising.
eddex
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-20T10:37:57.213Z
It is to reduce dust/lots of small UTxOs and goes back to when ADA was $0.02. I've seen people mention plans to make this value change dynamically, or to have a vote on changing it. You can find more information here https://cardano-ledger.readthedocs.io/en/latest/explanations/min-utxo.html
Eddy Schauman-Haigh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-20T23:13:03.000Z
I am really curious about upcoming changes to all parameters that go back to when ada was rather cheap. Minimum transaction size and especially transaction cost are two very important examples and it will be interesting to see how a change or vote will actually look like.
Peter1807
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-21T01:25:30.543Z
Is 'gas' a thing in Cardano? I think only Ethereum has 'gas'. Like Bitcoin, Cardano just has tx fees.
Joshua Chia
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-23T21:01:36.490Z
There is an additional amount of minimum ADA for a UTxO if that UTxO will contain native assets, based on how many unique policies are present. This may be what the answer refers to as 'gas', or they could mean the tx fees, but it would be good to clarify. 'Gas' is not a term used in the Cardano documentation
Ben NOBLE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-26T16:19:44.890Z
@EddySchauman-Haigh that link doesn't work - where can I find the 1 ADA + fees minimum docs?
Hud
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-04T13:01:49.540Z
Seems like a tx-fee cash grab. Good for the network validators, bad for users. I understand if a transaction should have a minimum in total but having a minimum per output in a tx only decreases the utility of the chain.. i.e. no micro-transactions and multi-asset development isn't cost-effective. Cardano shouldn't focus on layer-1 problems and should instead think about actual layer-2 utility, imo
irth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-20T09:59:58.683Z
2021-05-25T23:15:08.643Z
2021-05-25T23:15:08.643Z
Eddy Schauman-Haigh
<p>In addition to fees (<code>txFeePerByte</code> + <code>txFeeFixed</code>) as shown in the protocol parameters below, you can see that there is as well a <code>minUTxOValue</code> field that specifies the lowest UTxO output.</p>
<p>Therefore, a transaction cannot contain less than <code>txFeePerByte</code> + <code>txFeeFixed</code> + <code>minUTxOValue</code>. These three parameters can be changed once governance is active.</p>
<p>Protocol parameters</p>
<pre><code>    &quot;txFeePerByte&quot;: 44,
    &quot;minUTxOValue&quot;: 1000000,
    &quot;stakePoolDeposit&quot;: 500000000,
    &quot;decentralization&quot;: 0,
    &quot;poolRetireMaxEpoch&quot;: 18,
    &quot;extraPraosEntropy&quot;: null,
    &quot;stakePoolTargetNum&quot;: 500,
    &quot;maxBlockBodySize&quot;: 65536,
    &quot;maxTxSize&quot;: 16384,
    &quot;treasuryCut&quot;: 0.2,
    &quot;minPoolCost&quot;: 340000000,
    &quot;maxBlockHeaderSize&quot;: 1100,
    &quot;protocolVersion&quot;: {
        &quot;minor&quot;: 0,
        &quot;major&quot;: 4
    },
    &quot;txFeeFixed&quot;: 155381,
    &quot;stakeAddressDeposit&quot;: 2000000,
    &quot;monetaryExpansion&quot;: 3.0e-3,
    &quot;poolPledgeInfluence&quot;: 0.3
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-25T18:25:26.300Z
2021-05-26T16:01:48.843Z
2021-05-26T16:01:48.843Z
Alekseï Stakhanov
<p>Can I send 1 lovelace (0.000001 ADA) to another address or is there a minimum amount I need to send?</p>
<p>Of course there will also be the transaction fee of (currently) ~0.16 ADA, so such a transaction would not make much sense in most cases. Still I'm curious if it would work.</p>

<cardano-cli><transaction><ada>
Is there a minimum amount of ADA I can send in a transaction?
# Is there a minimum amount of ADA I can send in a transaction?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-05-20)

Can I send 1 lovelace (0.000001 ADA) to another address or is there a minimum amount I need to send?

Of course there will also be the transaction fee of (currently) ~0.16 ADA, so such a transaction would not make much sense in most cases. Still I'm curious if it would work.

**Tags:** cardano-cli, transaction, ada

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-05-20. Score: 9 | Accepted answer

There is a minimum UTxO transaction size of 1 ADA not including fees. That means the absolute minimum transaction is `1 ADA + fees`.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Is there any information why this is the case? This might become a bit of a problem in case the price keeps rising.  
> **username_1**: It is to reduce dust/lots of small UTxOs and goes back to when ADA was $0.02. I've seen people mention plans to make this value change dynamically, or to have a vote on changing it. You can find more information here https://cardano-ledger.readthedocs.io/en/latest/explanations/min-utxo.html  
> **username_2**: I am really curious about upcoming changes to all parameters that go back to when ada was rather cheap. Minimum transaction size and especially transaction cost are two very important examples and it will be interesting to see how a change or vote will actually look like.  
> **username_3**: Is 'gas' a thing in Cardano? I think only Ethereum has 'gas'. Like Bitcoin, Cardano just has tx fees.  
> **username_4**: There is an additional amount of minimum ADA for a UTxO if that UTxO will contain native assets, based on how many unique policies are present. This may be what the answer refers to as 'gas', or they could mean the tx fees, but it would be good to clarify. 'Gas' is not a term used in the Cardano documentation  
> **username_5**: @EddySchauman-Haigh that link doesn't work - where can I find the 1 ADA + fees minimum docs?  
> **username_6**: Seems like a tx-fee cash grab. Good for the network validators, bad for users. I understand if a transaction should have a minimum in total but having a minimum per output in a tx only decreases the utility of the chain.. i.e. no micro-transactions and multi-asset development isn't cost-effective. Cardano shouldn't focus on layer-1 problems and should instead think about actual layer-2 utility, imo  

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### Answer by username_7 on 2021-05-25. Score: 3

In addition to fees (txFeePerByte + txFeeFixed) as shown in the protocol parameters below, you can see that there is as well a minUTxOValue field that specifies the lowest UTxO output.
Therefore, a transaction cannot contain less than txFeePerByte + txFeeFixed + minUTxOValue. These three parameters can be changed once governance is active.
Protocol parameters
    "txFeePerByte": 44,
    "minUTxOValue": 1000000,
    "stakePoolDeposit": 500000000,
    "decentralization": 0,
    "poolRetireMaxEpoch": 18,
    "extraPraosEntropy": null,
    "stakePoolTargetNum": 500,
    "maxBlockBodySize": 65536,
    "maxTxSize": 16384,
    "treasuryCut": 0.2,
    "minPoolCost": 340000000,
    "maxBlockHeaderSize": 1100,
    "protocolVersion": {
        "minor": 0,
        "major": 4
    },
    "txFeeFixed": 155381,
    "stakeAddressDeposit": 2000000,
    "monetaryExpansion": 3.0e-3,
    "poolPledgeInfluence": 0.3


---

