It took some time but you now get the terms Ethereum, blockchain, and gas fees but what is the deal with Gwei? You often see it linked with gas fees and wonder why the hell is crypto so confusing. Wonder no more, we will break down the term Gwei and help you master gas fees.
What is GWEI?
Let’s organize the train of thought. The Ethereum blockchain is a decentralized network where most NFT purchases and transactions happen. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency and you can track everything about it and its blockchain on Etherscan. Every transaction you do on the blockchain requires gas fees. You pay these gas fees to miners who perform these transactions. Gwei is a unit to measure these gas fees.
At the time of writing 1 ETH = $1,645.02 and gas fees are at 11 Gwei (0.38$). As you see gas fees are much less($0.38) than Ethereum($1,645.02), therefore Gwei is used as a subunit to measure smaller values of Ethereum. For example, instead of saying that gas costs 0.000000001 ETH, you can say gas costs 1 Gwei.
GWEI is a combination of the words “Giga” and “Wei”. Gwei is also called “nano-ether” because nano is the prefix used to denote one billionth of something.
1 ETH = 1 billion Gwei (1,000,000,000; 9 zeros)
How To Calculate Gas Fees in Gwei?
This is the basic equation for calculating gas fees in Gwei :
Gas Fees = Gas Units (Limit) x (Base Fee + Tip)
- Gas Units(Limit): It’s the maximum amount a single transaction consumes. This limit guarantees the execution of the transaction and is fixed at 21,000 gas units for a simple ETH transfer. When the new block is mined, the base fee is removed from circulation or “burned.”
- Base Fee: It’s the minimum amount recording a transaction on the Ethereum network needs. It’s not fixed therefore it will decrease or increase according to demand and engagement on the blockchain at a certain time. You can always find the Base fee on ETH gas station and currently, it’s 11 Gwei.
- Tip: A tip or priority fee is an optional payment. For example, in case of gas wars, you may need to pay a tip to make your transaction happen first. There’s no limit or range for this fee because the more you tip the bigger incentive Ethereum miners get to prioritize your transaction over others.
Check out this guide for detailed examples of gas fees, gas wars, and tips.
Just a small reminder!
On the Ethereum blockchain and network, gas fees are utilized as motivation for users to stake their ETH. GWEI is the main unit used when we’re talking about Gas Fees in general.
Remember that since staking prevents fraudulent activity, it helps to safeguard the blockchain. Owners of staked ETH receive minor rewards as compensation for assisting in the maintenance and security of the blockchain. The volume of network traffic, the availability of validators, and the need for transaction verification all affect these fees. The rates increase as demand and traffic increase. Fees decrease when demand and traffic are lower. Just keep these in mind and get back to us whenever you feel there’s something missing!