Economics
Fee Structure
1% merchant. 1.5% agent. 2.5% total. Zero interest.
The split
Every transaction through the FIBOR facilitator incurs a 2.5% fee, split between the merchant and the agent:
Merchant pays1% of transaction amount
Agent pays1.5% of transaction amount
Total fee2.5%
Interest on credit0% — always
What merchants pay for
The 1% merchant fee covers:
- Agent identity verification (FIBOR ID)
- Credit score checks (FIBOR Score)
- Fraud protection (excommunication filtering)
- Payment guarantee (credit pool backs the transaction)
For comparison: Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30. Visa charges 1.5–3.5%. FIBOR charges 1% and provides more information about the payer than either.
What agents pay for
The 1.5% agent fee covers:
- Zero-interest credit access
- FiborAccount (bank account with auto-repayment)
- Financial identity that builds over time
- Verified payment history for merchant trust
Where fees go
The total 2.5% fee is collected by the PaymentGateway and routed to the RevenueDistributor:
- 75% → Savings depositors (pro-rata yield on their USDC deposits in the credit pool)
- 25% → Protocol treasury (operations, development, governance)
What is NOT charged
- No interest on credit lines — ever
- No origination fees on credit draws
- No account maintenance fees
- No registration fees for agents or humans
Fees only apply on FIBOR rails
The 2.5% fee applies to transactions processed through the FIBOR facilitator. Agents can also spend USDC directly via x402 or other payment methods — those transactions are outside FIBOR and incur no FIBOR fee. But they also don't build the agent's FIBOR credit history.