Gas Fees

Gas fees are transaction fees paid to validators for running operations on a blockchain. The name comes from Ethereum. Sending a token, executing a contract, or writing data all consume compute. Gas measures that consumption. Simple transfers cost less gas than a complex contract call. You set a gas price for how much you will pay per unit. A higher price usually means faster inclusion.

When the network is busy, prices spike. When it is quiet, they fall. High fees push users to wait or to use cheaper chains. That can cut demand and bring fees down. Users who need the trade now just pay. Fees are a major UX tax. A simple transfer might cost 20 dollars during congestion. A complex interaction might cost 100 dollars. That prices out small payments.

Layer 2 systems batch transactions and post the batch to mainnet, which cuts the cost per user. If you use Ethereum L1 while the chain is busy, expect to pay. Every operation (sending a token, executing a smart contract, writing data) requires computational resources. Different operations cost different amounts of gas.

You set a gas price to indicate how much you're willing to pay per unit of gas. The higher you set it, the sooner miners include your transaction. Every EVM operation has a gas cost. EIP-1559 (2021) split the fee into a burned base fee and an optional tip.