Transaction Fee
a.k.a. Network fee, Miner fee, Gas, Gas fee
The fee you pay a blockchain network to process your transaction, which goes to the miners or validators who include it.
A transaction fee, also called a network fee or miner fee, is what you pay to get a transaction written onto a blockchain. It goes to the miners or validators who build the blocks. On Ethereum and similar chains it's called gas, because every action burns some computing fuel.
Each block only holds so much, so fees work like an auction. When the network is quiet, fees are tiny. When everyone piles in at once, during a crash or a hyped launch, fees can spike hard, and low-fee transactions sit unconfirmed until things calm down.
Don't confuse it with an exchange's trading fee. That's what the exchange charges you; the network fee is what the blockchain charges when you move coins on it.
Rush hour on the chain
- On a quiet Sunday, sending a token costs you about $0.50 in network fees.
- A hot new token launches and thousands rush to buy at once.
- The fee to get into the next block climbs to $25. Your $0.50 transaction waits in line.
Bottom line: Fees are set by demand for space in the next block, not by how much you're sending.
Sending a small amount during a fee spike and paying more in network fees than the transfer is worth.
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