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Ethereum USDT transfer notifications, delivered as webhooks

Get a signed webhook when an Ethereum address sends or receives USDT ERC-20. Chainhook waits 12 blocks, about 2 minutes, then posts the transfer to your endpoint.

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USDT on Ethereum at a glance

The contract Chainhook watches, how amounts are scaled, and how long USDT takes to reach your endpoint.

Token
Tether USD (USDT)
Network
Ethereum
Issuer
Tether
Contract
0xdac17f958d2ee523a2206206994597c13d831ec7
Decimals
6
Confirmations
12
Time to webhook
About 2 minutes

How USDT ERC-20 webhooks work

Detecting deposits yourself means running or renting a node, subscribing to new heads, filtering Transfer logs, handling reorgs, and backfilling after downtime. Chainhook does that for every block, waits 12 confirmations, and sends you one event per matching transfer.

  1. Register the address

    Create a webhook with network: "ethereum", type: "token" and the address you want to watch. The signing secret is returned once.

  2. Chainhook waits for confirmations

    Every Ethereum block is scanned. A matching USDT transfer is held until it is 12 blocks deep, about 2 minutes.

  3. Your endpoint gets a signed POST

    A transfer.detected event arrives with an X-Webhook-Signature header. Failed attempts are retried automatically, up to 3 attempts in total, waiting 1 minute, then 5 minutes between attempts.

POST /v1/webhooks

{
  "network": "ethereum",
  "type": "token",
  "direction": "in",
  "address": "0x2481cd93a232aba0785cf50ac6c22cc2da2ac30d",
  "webhook_url": "https://api.example.com/webhooks/chainhook"
}

Sample webhook payload

What your endpoint receives for an incoming USDT transfer on Ethereum. amount is already scaled by decimals; amount_raw is the on-chain integer.

USDT on Ethereum

POST /webhooks/chainhook HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
User-Agent: chainhook/1.x
X-Webhook-Id: 01a0fbfd-4fe4-7a3c-8f21-6b9d0e4c7a15
X-Webhook-Signature: 7a12d02673420517279805cf8188a1a62c6f69706161ba5cf0a8ec91ea66b8e3

{
  "id": "01a0fbfd-4fe4-7a3c-8f21-6b9d0e4c7a15",
  "event": "transfer.detected",
  "created_at": "2026-10-02T09:41:17Z",
  "webhook_id": "01a0fbf2-fadc-7c3e-9b1a-4d6f2e8a5c71",
  "data": {
    "network": "ethereum",
    "direction": "in",
    "type": "token",
    "transaction_hash": "0x0fb978aed85e37590c9812f3240afb8b19decdb21a07e72c4845681f692f5809",
    "transfer_index": 132,
    "block_number": 26239143,
    "block_hash": "0xd2774d2c3d0ac5545ee2a5ac64d121b47a0d3b7fbcb3642cc691bc598fc4c1ab",
    "block_timestamp": "2026-10-02T09:41:05Z",
    "confirmations": 12,
    "from": "0xc47ac81bea5ea48a2e2b0123b362e0ced64fe357",
    "to": "0x2481cd93a232aba0785cf50ac6c22cc2da2ac30d",
    "currency": "USDT",
    "amount": "5000",
    "amount_raw": "5000000000",
    "decimals": 6,
    "contract_address": "0xdac17f958d2ee523a2206206994597c13d831ec7"
  }
}

Verify the signature

X-Webhook-Signature is a hex HMAC-SHA256 of the raw body, keyed with your webhook's secret. Reject any request where it doesn't match.

import crypto from 'node:crypto';
import express from 'express';

const app = express();

app.post(
  '/webhooks/chainhook',
  express.raw({ type: 'application/json' }),
  (req, res) => {
    const signature = req.get('X-Webhook-Signature') ?? '';
    const expected = crypto
      .createHmac('sha256', process.env.CHAINHOOK_SIGNING_SECRET)
      .update(req.body)
      .digest('hex');

    const valid =
      signature.length === expected.length &&
      crypto.timingSafeEqual(Buffer.from(signature), Buffer.from(expected));

    if (!valid) {
      return res.sendStatus(401);
    }

    const event = JSON.parse(req.body);
    // Skip event.id if you've already processed it.

    res.sendStatus(200);
  },
);

Crediting USDT deposits safely

Tether's original contract

USDT on Ethereum lives at 0xdac17f958d2ee523a2206206994597c13d831ec7 with 6 decimals. Chainhook ignores any other token using the USDT symbol.

Large transfers, higher fees

Ethereum gas makes small payments expensive for the sender, so USDT on Ethereum tends to carry larger, less frequent transfers. Fees never change the amount you receive.

Frozen addresses

Tether can freeze an address on Ethereum. Transfers from a frozen address fail and produce no event, so a missing deposit is sometimes a sender problem.

Credit once per transfer

Store the event id, or transaction_hash with transfer_index, and skip duplicates. Delivery is at least once.

Pay per detection

Start with 100 trial detections for 1 month and pay only for what you use. Paid plans add detections, webhooks, and per-detection overage.

  • Pay as you go

    $0/month

    Card required, no monthly fee

    • 100 trial detections for 1 month
    • 3 active webhooks
    • $0.001 per detection after the trial
    • Decoded transfers, delivered once confirmed
    Start for free

  • Starter

    $9/month

    or $90/year billed yearly

    • 25,000 detections a month
    • 25 active webhooks
    • $0.0006 per extra detection
    • Decoded transfers, delivered once confirmed
    Subscribe
  • Recommended

    Growth

    $29/month

    or $290/year billed yearly

    • 100,000 detections a month
    • 100 active webhooks
    • $0.0003 per extra detection
    • Decoded transfers, delivered once confirmed
    Subscribe

  • Scale

    $99/month

    or $990/year billed yearly

    • 400,000 detections a month
    • 200 active webhooks
    • $0.0002 per extra detection
    • Decoded transfers, delivered once confirmed
    Subscribe

Enterprise

Custom limits for teams that need more than 400,000 detections a month or more than 200 active webhooks. Contact us and we'll set up a plan around your volume.

Contact support

Prices in USD, plus applicable tax. Billed monthly or yearly, and paid allowances reset monthly. Cancel any time and keep your plan until the period ends.

Compare plans and estimate your bill

USDT on Ethereum questions

Can't find your answer? Contact support.

How do I detect an incoming USDT ERC-20 payment?

Create a webhook with network: "ethereum", type: "token", direction: "in" and the receiving address. Each confirmed USDT deposit arrives as a transfer.detected event.

What is the USDT ERC-20 contract address?

0xdac17f958d2ee523a2206206994597c13d831ec7, issued by Tether, with 6 decimals.

How long until the webhook arrives?

About 2 minutes: Chainhook waits 12 Ethereum blocks of 12 seconds each.

Is USDT cheaper to receive on TRON or BSC?

Receiving is free everywhere; the sender pays the fee. Senders pay much less on TRON and BSC than on Ethereum, which is why many payment flows offer several networks. See TRON USDT and BSC USDT.

Watch your first wallet

Create an account and start with 100 trial detections for 1 month.

Start for free