Glossary · G
Gas Fee
The fee paid to validators to process and record a transaction on a blockchain. Gas fees on Ethereum are priced in Gwei (billionths of ETH) and vary with network congestion. Layer 2 networks (Arbitrum, Optimism, Base) offer gas fees that are 10-100x lower than Ethereum mainnet.
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How Gas Fee works in practice
Gas is the fee paid for computation and storage on-chain. It is priced in the network's native asset and set by demand for block space, which is why the same action costs different amounts at different times of day.
Worked example
A simple transfer uses 21,000 gas. At 20 gwei with ETH at 3,000, that is about 1.26. A complex multi-protocol interaction using 500,000 gas at the same price costs around 30.
Figures are illustrative and chosen to be checkable, not live market data.
The mistake that costs people money
A failed transaction still costs gas. Reverting because slippage was exceeded or an approval was missing consumes the computation performed before the revert, and that money is gone.
Gas Fee: common questions
- What is Gas Fee?
- The fee paid to validators to process and record a transaction on a blockchain. Gas fees on Ethereum are priced in Gwei (billionths of ETH) and vary with network congestion. Layer 2 networks (Arbitrum, Optimism, Base) offer gas fees that are 10-100x lower than Ethereum mainnet.
- How does Gas Fee work in practice?
- Gas is the fee paid for computation and storage on-chain. It is priced in the network's native asset and set by demand for block space, which is why the same action costs different amounts at different times of day.
- Can you give an example of Gas Fee?
- A simple transfer uses 21,000 gas. At 20 gwei with ETH at 3,000, that is about 1.26. A complex multi-protocol interaction using 500,000 gas at the same price costs around 30.
- What do people get wrong about Gas Fee?
- A failed transaction still costs gas. Reverting because slippage was exceeded or an approval was missing consumes the computation performed before the revert, and that money is gone.