Gas Fee

A gas fee is the payment required to have a transaction processed and recorded on a blockchain, compensating the network's validators or miners for the computing power used. On networks like Ethereum, gas fees rise and fall with network congestion — the same transaction can cost far more during busy periods than during quiet ones. Gas fees apply to simple transfers and are usually higher for more complex actions, such as interacting with a DeFi protocol or minting an NFT. They are paid regardless of whether the underlying transaction succeeds or fails, since the network still did the work of processing it.