Gas fees in virtual currencies, also known as mining fees, are a key mechanism to ensure that the system can operate efficiently and safely. Taking the Ethereum blockchain as an example, "Gas" is a unit used to measure and pay for the computing resources required for transactions and smart contract operations. Every time you send a transaction or execute a smart contract on Ethereum, you need to consume a certain amount of gas. This mechanism ensures that the network can operate efficiently and prevents misuse of resources.

Basic concepts of gas charges

Gas is an abstract unit used to measure the computing resources required to perform various operations. For example, a simple transfer operation may only require a small amount of gas, while a complex smart contract may require a large amount of gas to complete. You need to use Ether (ETH) to pay for these gas fees.

In every transaction, there are two important parameters related to gas:

Gas Price: This refers to the price per unit of gas, usually in Gwei (1 Gwei = 10^-9 ETH). The gas price is set by the transaction initiator and determines how much ether they are willing to pay per unit of gas.

Gas Limit: This refers to the maximum amount of gas allowed to be consumed by a transaction or contract operation. The transaction initiator needs to set this value when sending a transaction to limit the maximum amount of gas that can be consumed during the transaction.

The total cost calculation formula is as follows:

Total cost = Gas Limit × Gas Price

Suppose you want to perform a simple Ethereum transfer operation, the required gas is 21,000, and then you set the price per unit of gas to 20 gwei. Then the transaction fee is calculated as:

Total cost = Gas Limit × Gas Price

= 21,000 × 20 gwei

= 420,000 gwei

= 0.00042 ETH

Important purpose of Gas design

Prevent online abuse

Without gas fees, malicious users can send a large number of useless transactions or run complex smart contracts, thus consuming network resources and causing network congestion. By requiring users to pay gas fees, these actions become expensive and uneconomical, effectively preventing abuse.

Compensate miners

Miners are responsible for validating and packaging transactions, and they need to invest computing resources and time. Gas Fees serve as compensation for miners, incentivizing them to participate in network maintenance and ensuring that transactions can be processed in a timely manner. Paying higher gas fees can increase the priority of the transaction and increase the chance of being selected by miners.

Ensure transaction priority

Due to the limited transaction processing capacity of the blockchain network, the priority of the transaction is usually determined by the Gas fee paid. This means that transactions that pay higher gas fees will be packaged into blocks by miners first, thus speeding up

Transaction confirmation speed.

Predictability of smart contracts

Gas provides a predictable fee framework for smart contract execution. When developers design smart contracts, they can optimize the code based on gas consumption, improve operating efficiency, and control operating costs.