Glossary
Gas fee (transaction fee)
A fee paid to the blockchain network for processing a transaction or executing a smart contract, e.g., on Ethereum.
A gas fee is a fee that a user pays to the blockchain network (most often Ethereum and similar networks) for processing a transaction or executing a smart contract operation. The name originates from Ethereum, where every operation consumes a certain number of units of "gas," and its price fluctuates depending on the network's current load.
The more users simultaneously attempt to carry out transactions, the higher the gas fee climbs — during periods of heavy traffic on Ethereum, it has reached as much as several dozen dollars for a single transaction, which is one of the arguments for using cheaper alternative blockchains.