What is a memo or tag in crypto transfers
A memo (also tag or comment) is an extra field in a transfer that identifies the recipient or payment when many users share one address.
Some services, especially exchanges, use one address for many customers. To know who sent what, they ask the sender to add an identifier: a memo, destination tag, comment or payment ID. Different networks call it differently. On TON it is a text comment, on some networks a numeric tag, but the idea is the same: the address tells the network where to send money, and the memo tells the service whose money it is.
The problem is that the memo depends on the sender. A customer can forget it, mistype it, or use a wallet that hides the field. In that case the funds reach the service’s address, but the service cannot automatically match them to an account. Recovery usually means a support ticket, proof of the transaction and a manual check, which can take days.
For a merchant accepting payments, a memo-based flow means more support requests and lost conversions. Every forgotten comment becomes a manual case, and customers paying from exchanges are particularly likely to skip optional fields. There is also a privacy aspect: comments are visible on-chain.
The alternative is to give each payment or customer its own address. Then the address itself identifies the payment, and the customer only needs to send the right amount to the right place. This works on all major networks and removes a whole class of errors.
Moonvex uses exactly this model: a separate address per payment or a permanent deposit address per customer, so no memo is needed on any supported network, including TON.
If a service does require a memo
- copy it with the copy button instead of typing it
- check that your wallet or exchange has a memo or comment field
- make a small test transfer first for large amounts
- keep the TXID in case you need to contact support