Have you ever encountered this situation,
Clearly just wanting to transfer $50 of ETH to a friend, but the Gas fee is $30,
To transfer or not to transfer, lost in thought,
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What exactly are Gas fees,
Blockchain is not a single server, but a network maintained by thousands of computers around the world,
Every transaction requires these computers to help you process, validate, and record,
Gas fees are the 'processing fees' you pay to these computers,
Without Gas fees, and no one to help you package the transaction, your transfer will never be confirmed,
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Why is it sometimes expensive and sometimes cheap?
Imagine a highway,
Usually, when there are fewer cars, driving is casual, and tolls are normal.
Traffic jams during holidays, everyone wants to get on the road, tolls just increase,
The same goes for blockchain,
The more people on the network, the more congested the transactions become, competing to have miners prioritize your transaction, thus making Gas fees more expensive.
In 2021, when NFTs were hottest, the Gas fees on Ethereum once surged to over $200 per transaction
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Why are Bitcoin transaction fees cheaper than Ethereum's?
The function of the BTC network is very simple: it is for transferring money.
The ETH network runs smart contracts, DeFi, NFTs, and various applications,
The more complex the things to handle, the more Gas consumed, and naturally, the higher the fees.
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How to pay less Gas fees
First, avoid peak hours, usually when both Asia and Europe and America are active.
Second, for non-urgent transfers, you can lower the Gas fee and process slowly when the network is not congested.
Third, consider using Layer 2 networks, like Arbitrum and Optimism, which are also part of the Ethereum ecosystem, reducing Gas fees by over 90.
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Remember this phrase
Gas fees are not charged by exchanges; they are collected by the blockchain network.
Anyone who tells you that Gas fees can be refunded is lying.