Why Are NFT Gas Fees So High? Explained

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nft gas fee

Whenever you buy or sell NFT, you have to pay a gas fee. Have you wondered what a gas fee is? Well, this article will help you find out all about the gas fee and why the NFT gas fee is so high. Let’s get right into it.

What is a Gas Fee?

A gas fee is a payment you make to carry out a transaction on a blockchain. You pay a gas fee when buying or selling an NFT because changes are made on the blockchain where it is hosted. The gas fee compensates the miners for using their computing power to verify blockchain transactions. 

The gas fee is usually paid in the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain. You have to pay a gas fee for each transaction. The gas fee is not fixed and depends on many factors like traffic on the blockchain and demand at a given time. NFT gas fee is usually high because the transactions are complex, and traffic is high on the blockchain.

How are NFT gas prices set?

NFT gas fee depends on two primary factors-block time and transaction time. Let’s see what these are.

  1. Block time-This is the time needed for the blockchain to create new blocks.
  2. Transaction time-This is the number of transactions a block can process.

If the block time is low, the blocks can be created faster, resulting in faster transaction time. In such cases, the transaction fee would be lower.

What is a gas limit?

Gas limit is the term used to define the maximum price a user is ready to pay for an NFT transaction. It acts as a security mechanism that prevents people from charging too much gas fees as an error or a bug.

Why do NFTs use gas?

Gas fees act as a mechanism to incentivize blockchain miners for their efforts in solving algorithms needed to carry out blockchain transactions. If no incentive existed, no one would be interested in spending their computational powers to complete smart contract operations. 

Overall, gas fees ensure that a blockchain works safely and smoothly. 

Different gas fee tracker platforms

Gas tracker for Ethereum

Etherscan is a reliable gas fee tracking platform used to track gas fees for the Ethereum blockchain. You can track fee trends and know when the prices are low.

Gas tracker for Polygon

For polygon blockchain, Polygonscan and Polygas are excellent for tracking gas fees. These platforms display the highest and lowest gas fee.

Gas tracker for Solana

Solana Beach is a platform that allows you to find the current gas fee for the Solana blockchain.

Reasons why the NFT gas fee is so high

NFT gas fee is usually high for two main reasons:

Popularity of Ethereum

Ethereum hosts many decentralized applications, making it one of the most popular blockchains. Many games, NFT platforms, supply chain solutions, decentralized finance applications, and more exist on Ethereum. As a result of this demand, the gas fee on Ethereum tends to grow higher.

When more people depend on the Ethereum blockchain, the miners need to use more computational power to complete transactions, which raises the gas fee further.

Applications of Ethereum

Ethereum is the preferred blockchain for activities like supply chain, advertising, finance, NFTs, fundraising, etc. Startups and new businesses like to build their products on the blockchain. For instance, artists earn royalties through NFT sales on the blockchain in the music industry. Such versatility raises the demand for the blockchain, and its gas fee rises further.

Why can gas fees be a problem for some?

Every action on the blockchain needs a gas fee. Meanwhile, there are no upper limits on the gas fee for each block. Miners who confirm transactions pick the ones with the highest incentive first, pushing the remaining transactions to later blocks. Such a sequence of actions makes the gas fee the primary block to a user’s bid for blockchain transactions. So when the number of users increases, the gas fee rises because of the limited space available on the blocks.

How to avoid high gas fees?

While there is no way to avoid gas fees altogether, you can reduce them by paying attention to the following factors:

  1. Try to use the Ethereum blockchain at non-peak hours like weekends. When users are fewer, computation is less demanding, reducing the gas fee.
  2. Wait for the right time. If you don’t have to do a transaction immediately, wait for some time for the gas fee to drop.
  3. Go for layer 2 solutions such as Arbitrum. Layer 2 solutions don’t use too much computational power because these transactions happen off the blockchain.
  4. Check different platforms and DApps for discounts and refunds. 

Conclusion

As we saw above, gas fees are an integral part of NFTs. It is a reward mechanism for those working on the technical side of NFTs. When the demand and traffic on the blockchain increase, the gas fee also rises. Use the above tips to track gas fee and transact when gas fee falls to their lowest.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How to Buy NFT without a gas fee on OpenSea?

To skip paying a gas fee on OpenSea, use the Polygon blockchain for buying NFTs. Polygon blockchain uses Ether as a currency but doesn’t need a gas fee for NFT transactions on OpenSea.

2. How to sell NFT on OpenSea for free?

To sell NFT on OpenSea, you must follow the instructions and mint your NFT. Make sure you choose Polygon blockchain so that you can do it for free.

3. How much does it cost to post an NFT?

It will cost between $0.05 and $150 to create an NFT. Ethereum is among the costliest, with an average rate of $70.

4. Does Polygon have gas fees?

Yes, you have to pay a gas fee on the Polygon blockchain. However, it is much less than the gas fee for the Ethereum blockchain.

5. Is there any Gas free NFT marketplace?

OpenSea claims to be a gas-free platform for NFTs. It supports the Polygon blockchain, and you don’t have to pay a gas fee. Other gas-free marketplaces are Everipedia IQ and DexAge.

6. Will Ethereum 2.0 reduce gas fees?

Ethereum 2.0 expects to increase the transaction speed manifold. As a result, the gas fee is also likely to decrease.