As the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ethereum has drawn a lot of attention from investors and enthusiasts alike. However, one of the most frequently asked questions about Ethereum is “Why is the network fee so high?”
To answer this question, we need to understand a bit about how the Ethereum network works. Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of fraud or third party interference.
These apps run on a blockchain, a decentralized database that is secure and tamper-proof. The Ethereum blockchain is powered by ETH, also known as “gas.
” ETH is used to pay for transaction fees and computational resources on the network.
The amount of ETH required for a transaction depends on its complexity and the current demand for resources on the network. When the demand for resources is high, transaction fees will also be high.
So why is the demand for resources on the Ethereum network so high? There are a few reasons:
1. The popularity of Ethereum-based decentralized applications (dApps).
Since anyone can build a dApp on Ethereum, there are now thousands of them available, ranging from games and collectibles to lending platforms and prediction markets. This popularity has led to increased usage of the Ethereum network, which in turn has led to higher fees.
2. The rise of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). ICOs have become a popular way for blockchain projects to raise funds. In an ICO, a project sells tokens to investors in exchange for ETH.
These tokens can be used to access the project’s products or services once they launch. The success of an ICO often depends on whether it can get listed on a popular cryptocurrency exchange. This listing usually requires the project to pay a listing fee in ETH. As more projects launch ICOs, the demand for ETH increases, driving up fees.
3. Scalability issues.
The Ethereum network is currently not able to handle large numbers of transactions per second due to its design. This has led to congestions in the network, which in turn has led to higher fees as users are willing to pay more to have their transactions processed quickly.
The good news is that work is underway to address these issues. Developers are working on scaling solutions such as sharding and off-chain protocols that will allow the Ethereum network to process more transactions per second without compromising security or decentralization.
Once these solutions are implemented, we expect fees on the Ethereum network to decrease significantly.