Did you make a **crypto deposit to the card** and the amount received was **much lower** than what was sent from the other wallet?

In most cases, this happens because the money **had to cross different networks** and was **“eaten” by fees** along the way.

## 1\. What Happened Behind the Scenes

When you send a crypto other than USDC.e through a network other than Gnosis, the system needs to do something more complex than a simple “send to another address”:

1.  **Move the amount on the origin network** (e.g., leaving the Base network).
2.  **Pass through a cross-network bridge** (to leave Base and reach Gnosis).
3.  **Convert the token**, if necessary, to the format used by the card (e.g., from USDC to USDC.e).
4.  **Pay network fees (gas)** and **fees for services/“bridges”** involved at each step.

All these steps charge **crypto fees**, and these fees are deducted **from the amount you are sending**.

## 2\. Why Did the Amount Drop So Much?

In such operations, you basically pay three types of costs:

1.  **Network fee (gas)**
    -   Charged on each network where the transaction runs (e.g., Base and Gnosis).
    -   Used to pay validators/miners who process your transactions.
2.  **Cross-network bridge fee**
    -   It's the “toll” to transport your balance from one network to another.
3.  **Conversion/swap fees**
    -   When the system needs to swap the token or adjust formats (USDC ↔ USDC.e), there may be minor fees and small conversion losses.

The most important point:

> **A large part of these fees is practically fixed**.  
> They cost almost the same whether you send 5 **USDC** or 500 **USDC**.

Therefore, when you send **a low amount**, the “toll” is almost entirely paid with the amount sent — and very little may remain on the card.

Hypothetical example:

-   Sent: 5 **USDC** on the Base network.
-   After all network + bridge + conversion fees,
-   Remaining: **0.90 USDC.e** on the Gnosis network in the card balance.

In other words: **most of it was used to pay fees**, it wasn't a calculation error by the card. If the amount sent was 500 USDC, the amount received would be 495.9 USDC.e (without significant capital loss).

## 3\. How to Prevent This from Happening Again

Some good practices for crypto deposits on the card:

-   **Avoid very small amounts in cross-network operations**  
    Since fees have an almost fixed component, very low amounts end up being almost entirely consumed by costs.
-   **Whenever possible, use the correct network from the start**  
    The card uses balance on a specific network (Gnosis), so it's worth having the balance on this network before sending.
-   **Prefer simpler routes**  
    Whenever it's not essential to use cross-network crypto, it may be more efficient to:
    -   Deposit via traditional methods (Pix)
    -   Use Picnic's options to convert cryptos before loading the card, which removes some of the transaction complexity.

## 4\. What Picnic Can Do

-   Help you **understand where the amount was spent on fees**.
-   Guide you on **more efficient ways** to make future deposits.

## 5\. What Picnic Cannot Do

-   **Refund network (gas) fees** or fees from bridges/external providers.
-   **Cancel or reverse** transactions already confirmed on the blockchain.

In summary: Picnic can **explain and guide**, but **cannot recover** what was paid in fees to the network or external services.

Also check out

[How to Send Crypto to Picnic](https://help.usepicnic.com/hc/picnic/articles/como-enviar-cripto-para-o-picnic)

[Cryptocurrency Transaction Fees at Picnic](https://help.usepicnic.com/hc/picnic/articles/taxas-de-transacao-de-criptomoedas-no-picnic)