Funding the wallet

A Curio Core SP needs gas to broadcast proofs and rail settlements, plus a small FIL deposit when clients open new datasets.

What costs FIL?

Action	Approx. cost	Frequency
PDPv0_Prove tx	gas only (~0.0005 tFIL)	Per dataset per proving window (~every 2h)
PDPv0_InitPP tx (next proving period advance)	gas only	After every prove
settleRail tx	gas only	Per rail per ~7-day grace cycle (or more on settlement-heavy SPs)
createDataSet (client-initiated)	gas + 0.1 FIL cleanup deposit	Per new dataset (refunded on cleanup)
Service Registry register/deregister	5 FIL each	Once when listing your SP

The 5 FIL Service Registry registration is the only large up-front cost. Everything else is per-tx gas.

Recommended starting balances

Network	Suggested tFIL/FIL on bootstrap	Notes
Calibration	0.5 tFIL	Easy to top up via the calibration faucet at https://faucet.calibration.fildev.network/
Mainnet	5–10 FIL	Headroom for Service Registry + a few months of gas. Top up before it drops below ~1 FIL.

Sending tFIL/FIL to the SP

The PDP wallet address is shown in the dashboard topbar and in the Wallets page. Send testnet FIL to it from the calibration faucet, or mainnet FIL from your Filecoin wallet.

USDFC

USDFC is the ERC-20 stablecoin that storage rails are paid in. It shows up on the SP side in two ways:

1. Accumulating in — as the PDPv0_PaySettle task claims accrued rail funds, USDFC lands in the SP wallet. This is the normal revenue path; you don't send it out.
2. A small lockup on dataset creation — the Filecoin Warm Storage Service requires a small USDFC deposit/lockup when a dataset is opened. On a self-driven mainnet bring-up (you create your own first dataset to prove the loop), the wallet needs a couple of USDFC up front, before createDataSet, or the tx reverts with InsufficientLockupFunds.

Check readiness before you spend gas

curio-core doctor runs a USDFC preflight and prints READY / NOT-READY with the exact remediation, so you don't burn gas on a reverting createDataSet.

Self-funding USDFC (headless)

There is no native FIL→USDFC liquidity on Filecoin worth relying on, so Curio Core can bridge USDC from an L1/L2 (Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon) into USDFC on Filecoin, signed by the SP's own key — no browser, no manual DEX clicking:

# quote only (default)
curio-core wallet get-usdfc --amount 3 --from-chain base

# execute the bridge
curio-core wallet get-usdfc --amount 3 --from-chain base --submit

This needs USDC on the chosen source chain plus that chain's RPC in CURIO_RPC_<CHAIN> (e.g. CURIO_RPC_BASE), and a Squid integrator id in CURIO_SQUID_INTEGRATOR_ID. The SP's PDP wallet is used as both the source sender and the Filecoin receiver.

Moving USDFC out

If you need to move USDFC out (e.g. to consolidate balances or convert to FIL):

curio-core wallet send --asset usdfc <to-address> <amount>

See the wallet management page for the full sequence.

Monitoring balance

The dashboard's Wallets page shows live tFIL + USDFC balances per wallet, read via the embedded Lantern. If the PDP wallet drops below ~0.1 tFIL on calibration, proofs start failing with insufficient funds — top up before that happens.

Alerts on low balance are tracked in #39 but not yet wired.