Coinbase to Binance network fee versus GDAX to Binance... explain anyone?

[grandkodiak]

So I bought $50USD BTC on coinbase to start playing around and wanted to get XRP. So I sent it to Binance and I was hit with a $21 network fee.

My friend said oh just send it to GDAX (which you get with Binance account) then to Binance and the same transaction fee was like $2.

Why is there such a discrepency? What sets the fee, and why is it free from coinbase to gdax, and negligible from gdax to binance, but an a$$rape from coinbase to binance? i'll eat it as a learners fee but serious what the holy hell just happened?

[LeGaulois]

I am not aware that the fees between Coinbase and GDAX are free, I am surprised if it's the case.

You may find the Coinbase fees high, specially since it's a fixed fee (and not related to the BTC network) but I think they decided this to avoid complaints from users asking "why it takes so long times to receive my bitcoins?" While they have nothing to do if the users used a very low fee to send

Coinbase and GDAX can be from the same company, it doesn't mean they manage the wallets and transactions the same way and it's the reason for such difference