#CryptoFees101 The **gas fees** in crypto are the costs associated with transactions on a blockchain. They serve to compensate the miners or validators who process and secure the operations.
### 🔍 **How do gas fees work?**
- **Unit of measurement**: Gas is measured in **Gwei**, a fraction of Ethereum (ETH).
- **Base fee**: Minimum amount required to include a transaction in a block.
- **Priority fee**: An optional tip to speed up the processing of the transaction.
- **Gas limit**: Maximum amount of gas a user is willing to pay.
### ⚡ **Why do fees vary?**
- **Network congestion**: The more transactions there are, the higher the fees.
- **Complexity of the transaction**: Smart contracts require more gas.
- **Protocol updates**: Ethereum introduced EIP-1559 to better manage fees
### 🛠 **Optimize gas fees**
- Use **Layer 2 networks** like Arbitrum or Optimism.
- Perform transactions **during off-peak hours**.
- Monitor gas prices in real-time before sending a transaction
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