Metering & billing

How requests turn into credits, and how USDC-on-Base payout ships at public beta.

Every billed request produces two credit rows: providerCredits and operatorCredits (network revenue). Credits accrue on the ledger today. USDC-on-Base payout is planned for public beta, not invite-gated pre-beta.

Credit formula

grossCredits    = ((promptTokens × promptRate) + (completionTokens × completionRate))
                  × globalMultiplier
                  ÷ (1M × 1M)

providerCredits = grossCredits × providerShareBps ÷ 10,000
operatorCredits = grossCredits − providerCredits

Both values use banker’s rounding — ties round to the nearest even quotient, eliminating systematic bias across large volumes of small requests. Constants:

Symbol	Default	Meaning
`tokensPerMillion`	1,000,000	Rate card denominator
`globalMultiplierDenom`	1,000,000	PPM denominator
`providerShareDenom`	10,000	Basis-points denominator
`maxBillableTokens`	10,000,000	Per-field overflow guard

Default rate card:

Token type	Rate
Prompt	500,000 credits per 1M tokens
Completion	1,000,000 credits per 1M tokens

Default provider share: 90%. Default global multiplier: 1.0. The operator can override rates per model or add model-specific entries. Faulted requests (breaker_qualifying or null_usage_error) produce zero credits.

Prefix-cache billing

For sticky-routed requests where the provider reuses its warm KV-cache, usage.cached_prompt_tokens reports the count of prefix-cache tokens. These are billed at the per-model prompt_cache_hit_rate_per_mtok rate instead of the full promptRate. The OpenAI usage object is extended with one field:

{
  "prompt_tokens": 1500,
  "completion_tokens": 300,
  "total_tokens": 1800,
  "cached_prompt_tokens": 1200
}

cached_prompt_tokens is always present; 0 when there was no cache reuse.

Verified model settlement

For settlement-capable traffic (v0.3+ receipts), the coordinator receipt verdict drives the gateway’s buyer debit/refund decision on the money path.

Valid receipt → buyer debited, provider credited, settlement proceeds.
Missing / malformed / unverifiable receipt → settled as FaultBreakerQualifying with zero provider credits. Buyer is not debited.
Late receipt. For settlement-capable traffic a provider receipt must arrive before the coordinator’s pending_deadline_seconds window closes. Receipts arriving after the deadline are non-settling and non-recoverable.

Full detail: Operations → Verified model settlement.

Settlement cadence

Today (pre-beta): credits accrue; no USDC payout rail is active.
At public beta: weekly sweep (Monday 00:00 UTC design), minimum 500,000 credits, USDC on Base.
Below the threshold, credits roll to the next window.

StartWeeklySettlement is the coordinator job that will fire that sweep when the payout rail is enabled. settlement.job_enabled must be true for the job to execute.

Endpoints

Endpoint	Purpose
`GET https://api.malibu.tech/v1/rate-card`	Live per-model rate card (also on `malibu.tech`)
`GET https://api.malibu.tech/v1/usage`	Buyer’s usage aggregated by day / model
`GET /providers/{provider_id}/earnings`	Provider balance, current window, last payout ready

Regimes: Economics. Provider guide: Payments & payouts.

Litepaper

Getting started

Buyers

Providers

Network & trust

Guides index

Ledger

Metering & billing

Metering & billing

Credit formula

Prefix-cache billing

Verified model settlement

Settlement cadence

Endpoints

​Metering & billing

​Credit formula

​Prefix-cache billing

​Verified model settlement

​Settlement cadence

​Endpoints

Metering & billing

Credit formula

Prefix-cache billing

Verified model settlement

Settlement cadence

Endpoints