Have you ever wondered why in a world where you can buy coffee with crypto, the transaction itself costs seven times more than that coffee? Congratulations, you have entered the sacred temple of fees called Ethereum Mainnet — where every operation feels like a deal with the Vatican: expensive, long, and unclear where part of the money goes.
Fee? What fee? — you might ask.
Uh-huh, right.
They are everywhere. Entry fee. Exit fee. Fee for daring to breathe in the direction of the blockchain.
• Transferred USDT to Ethereum? — 20 bucks, please.
• Placed a market order? — Pay the fee, traitor!
• Want to just check your balance? — Oh, that costs a little bit of your soul and another $4 in gas.
Are you trading on an exchange?
Congratulations, you are no longer a trader. You are a waiter working for tips… only the other way around.
There are two types of people on the exchange:
1. Taker — the one who pays the full fee because 'life is pain and I click Market Order'.
2. Maker — the one who thinks he is smart, places limit orders, and gets a discount.
(And then no one touches his order for three weeks.)
Let's talk about 'fairness'...
After all, you are an honest citizen of the decentralized crypto-republic.
You just want to transfer money from Binance to Metamask.
You choose the Ethereum network.
And then you are met with the cold, marble face of fees.
"This will cost you $35, mortal."
But Tron only takes $1…
"Silence, heretic. This is not 'real decentralization'!"
There are solutions.
(Of course, they need to be paid too.)
• Solana — fast, cheap… and hasn't died from overload yet, like last Tuesday.
• Polygon — like Ethereum, but on a diet.
• TRC-20 — the favorite of all traders and, I suspect, a couple of drug cartels.
How to survive?
Simple formula:
• Trade within limits — otherwise you will pay like for Netflix in 4K, just for one order.
• Make transfers at night — because the blockchain seems to be sleeping too.
• Don't use Ethereum unnecessarily — leave it for rich NFT amateurs.
The end
Cryptocurrency promised us freedom, but instead gave us…
gas chambers for wallets.
(Not in the historical sense)
So the next time you pay $87 to send $20 —
just remember: this is decentralization.
You are free.
Free to pay.
And yes, I would also send this article via Tron
