Gas fee
The payment that runs a blockchain transaction - priced by demand, not by the amount you move.
The payment that runs a blockchain transaction - priced by demand, not by the amount you move.
Every chain needs a fee market: block space is scarce, and the fee decides which transactions the validator includes. Gas is quoted per unit of computation, and the total you pay is units multiplied by the gas price - so moving $10 can cost the same as moving $10 million, because both fill roughly the same slot. Fees spike with network activity: mint events, volatile markets, and popular applications all bid the price up until the queue clears.
Practical levers: pick a layer-2 or a low-fee chain for small transfers, batch operations, and avoid peak minutes if your transaction is not urgent. Wallet estimates are usually conservative; many let you choose slow/standard/fast, and a transaction priced too low simply waits rather than fails. Fee tokens also create a hidden cost of holding - on Ethereum-denominated gas, network congestion directly raises the carrying cost of every action.
Worked example
An NFT mint congests the chain and gas jumps from a few cents to $40 per transfer. Your $30 token move now costs more than the token - not because of its size, but because the same block was suddenly expensive real estate.
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