What Are Blockchain Transaction Fees?
Transaction fees serve two essential purposes when it comes to blockchain networks. They reward miners or validators who help confirm transactions and help protect the network from spam attacks.
Transaction fees can be both small or large, depending on the network activity. Market forces can also influence the fees you pay. While high fees can hinder wider blockchain adoption, very low fees could potentially bring security concerns.
Why transaction fees?
Transaction fees are and have been an essential part of most blockchain systems since their inception. You are most likely to have come across them when sending, depositing, or withdrawing crypto.
The majority of cryptocurrencies use transaction fees for two important reasons. First of all, fees reduce the amount of spam on the network. It also makes large-scale spam attacks costly and expensive to implement. Secondly, transaction fees act as an incentive for users that help verify and validate transactions. Think of it as a reward for helping the network.
For most blockchains, transaction fees are reasonably cheap, but they can get quite expensive depending on network traffic. As a user, the amount you choose to pay in fees determines your transaction's priority in being added to the next block. The higher the fee paid, the quicker the confirmation process.
