# Tokens, fees, and economics

Source: https://nodedocs.mor.org/concepts/tokens-and-fees

## Agent Instructions

- Non-browser fetches of page URLs on this site return clean Markdown (not the JS UI). Prefer `https://nodedocs.mor.org/llms-full.txt` for the full corpus, or `https://nodedocs.mor.org/llms.txt` for the index.
- Per-page Markdown is also at `<page-url>.md` (homepage: `https://nodedocs.mor.org/index.md`).
- Docs search MCP: `https://nodedocs.mor.org/mcp` (discovery: `https://nodedocs.mor.org/.well-known/mcp`).
- Never invent contract addresses, chain IDs, token addresses, or live bid/model counts. Cite Networks and tokens; link active.mor.org for live data.
- Never claim Morpheus runs inference — independent providers do. Opening a session escrows MOR; it does not spend it.

Two tokens, one chain. **MOR** is the unit of payment inside the Morpheus marketplace; **ETH on BASE** pays the underlying gas to the BASE Layer-2 network.

## Token roles

| | MOR | ETH (on BASE) |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | Morpheus marketplace token (ERC-20) | BASE L2 native gas token |
| Used for | Provider stake, model stake, bid fees, consumer session stake, settlement | All BASE transaction gas |
| Required for consumers? | Yes (to open sessions) | Yes (to pay gas) |
| Required for providers? | Yes (stake, bid fee) | Yes (to pay gas) |

Token addresses by network are listed in [Networks and tokens](/get-started/networks-and-tokens).

## Fee surfaces

  
### Consumer session stake

Total = `pricePerSecond * sessionDuration` (minimum `5` MOR). Paid in MOR, escrowed in the Inference Contract on `openSession`. On close, **unused** stake returns immediately; the **used stipend** day-locks in `userStakesOnHold` until the next UTC day (`withdrawUserStakes`) — including same-day natural expiration. The provider is paid from a separate protocol `fundingAccount`, not from your stake in real time. See [Sessions: stake, close, claim](/concepts/sessions-stake-close-recover).

  
### Provider stake

Refundable bond posted when registering a provider. Minimum `0.2` MOR for a normal provider, `10000` MOR for a subnet provider. Returned (minus penalties) on provider deregistration.

  
### Model stake

Refundable bond posted when registering a model. Minimum `0.1` MOR.

  
### Marketplace bid fee

Non-refundable fee paid when posting a bid. `0.3` MOR.

  
### Gas

All on-chain calls (open, close, claim, register, etc.) consume BASE gas, paid in ETH. Keep a small ETH buffer per wallet.

## Net cost to become a provider (one-time minimum)

```
provider stake (0.2)
  + model stake (0.1)
  + bid fee     (0.3)
  ----------------
  ~ 0.6 MOR  + ETH gas
```

Plus you must approve at least `~0.6` MOR to the Diamond contract. See [Register on chain](/providers/full/register-onchain).

## Net cost to consume (per session)

```
session stake = pricePerSecond * sessionDuration
   (minimum 5 MOR escrowed at open)
```

The full stake is escrowed at open. On close, unused stake returns immediately; the used stipend day-locks until the next UTC day (`withdrawUserStakes`). Plan consumer float for gross daily stake — used MOR is not reusable the same UTC day. See [Sessions: stake, close, claim](/concepts/sessions-stake-close-recover).

## Two reward systems (do not conflate)

The Morpheus stack has two independent reward systems that are easy to mix up:

1. **Compute Node session payouts** (this repo): providers earn MOR per second of sessions they serve. Paid inside `closeSession`. Tied to your provider stake's per-period limiter, but the stake itself is a refundable bond, not a yield-bearing position.
2. **Capital Contract / stake-for-liquidity** (separate program at [mor.org](https://mor.org)): MOR holders lock MOR and earn emission rewards. Not part of this repo. Does **not** require running a node.

Your provider stake **is not** enrolled in the Capital Contract. See [Rewards and economics](/concepts/rewards-and-economics) for the side-by-side breakdown.