Gas Fees
Transaction fees paid to validators for processing operations on a blockchain network.
What is Gas Fees?
Gas fees are the transaction costs users pay to compensate blockchain validators or miners for the computational resources required to process and confirm operations on a network. The term originates from Ethereum, where 'gas' measures the computational effort of each operation — simple transfers require less gas than complex smart contract interactions. The total fee equals gas units consumed multiplied by the gas price, which fluctuates based on network demand. During periods of high congestion, gas prices spike significantly because users bid for limited block space. Ethereum's EIP-1559 upgrade introduced a base fee that is burned (removed from supply) plus a priority tip paid to validators. Layer-2 networks and competing blockchains such as Solana and Avalanche were developed in part to offer dramatically lower gas fees than Ethereum's mainnet.
Example
During the peak of the NFT market in 2021, Ethereum gas fees regularly exceeded $100 for a simple token swap on Uniswap. A user wanting to buy an NFT for $50 might pay more in gas than the asset itself was worth, illustrating why high gas fees can make small transactions economically unviable on congested networks.
Source: Ethereum Foundation — Gas