If you've ever made a crypto transfer or bought a token on Ethereum, you've probably seen the word Gas or Gas Fee. And immediately the question: what gas, this isn’t a car? 😅
In fact, it's simple: Gas is the fee for the network's work.
How it works
Every time you transfer tokens or launch a smart contract, the network has to perform calculations.
These calculations are done by miners (previously) or validators (now, in PoS).
To give them an incentive to process your transactions, you pay gas.
Imagine: gas is like the payment for electricity in a house. Want to turn on the kettle — you need a little energy. Want to heat the whole house — pay more.
What makes up the fee
The formula is simple:
Gas Fee = amount of gas × gas price.
Simple transfer $ETH → about 21,000 gas.
Complex smart contract (e.g., DeFi) → can consume hundreds of thousands of gas.
The gas price is expressed in gwei (these are small fractions of ETH).
Why is it sometimes so expensive?
The network is overloaded: thousands of people are making transfers or buying NFTs at the same time.
The higher you set the gas price, the faster your transaction will go through. It's like an auction: 'I want mine processed first — I'll pay more.'
Complex actions require more gas.
That's why sometimes the fee can be more than the transaction itself: you send $10, but pay $30 in fees. 🤯
What to do with this?
Wait for a time when the network is less busy (often at night or in the morning UTC).
Use L2 solutions (Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync) or other networks (BNB Chain, Polygon, Solana). There, fees are pennies.
Check gas before the transaction on sites like etherscan.io/gastracker.
Result
Gas Fees are the 'fuel' for the blockchain.
Without it, the network doesn't work.
The higher the load, the more expensive the gas.
To save money, many switch to L2 or choose cheaper networks.
