{"id":760,"slug":"what-are-ethereum-gas-fees-and-why-do-they-change","question":"What are Ethereum gas fees and why do they change?","intent":"informational","language":"en","url":"https://worldwiki.io/q/what-are-ethereum-gas-fees-and-why-do-they-change","entity":{"slug":"ethereum","name":"Ethereum","url":"https://worldwiki.io/entity/ethereum"},"answer":{"short_answer":"Gas measures the computation a transaction needs, and fees are paid in ETH, usually quoted in gwei (one-billionth of an ETH). Since EIP-1559 (the London upgrade, August 5, 2021), each fee has a base fee that is burned plus an optional tip to the validator. The base fee can move by up to 12.5% per block depending on demand, so fees rise when the network is busy.","detailed_answer":"<p>Many users move activity to layer-2 rollups, which usually charge lower fees than mainnet <span class=\"ref\">[6]</span><span class=\"ref\">[4]</span><span class=\"ref\">[11]</span>.</p>","format":"paragraph","confidence":75,"verified_at":"2026-09-18 07:10:23","updated_at":"2026-09-18 16:10:23"},"sources":[{"id":196,"title":"What is Ethereum? (A Complete Guide)","url":"https://ethereum.org/what-is-ethereum/","publisher":"ethereum.org","type":"official","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:45"},{"id":197,"title":"Introduction to smart contracts","url":"https://ethereum.org/developers/docs/smart-contracts/","publisher":"ethereum.org","type":"official","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:47"},{"id":198,"title":"What is Ether (ETH)?","url":"https://ethereum.org/what-is-ether/","publisher":"ethereum.org","type":"official","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:47"},{"id":186,"title":"Timeline of all Ethereum forks (2014 to present)","url":"https://ethereum.org/ethereum-forks/","publisher":"ethereum.org","type":"official","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:36"},{"id":199,"title":"Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)","url":"https://ethereum.org/developers/docs/evm/","publisher":"ethereum.org","type":"official","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:47"},{"id":200,"title":"Gas and fees","url":"https://ethereum.org/developers/docs/gas/","publisher":"ethereum.org","type":"official","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:47"},{"id":161,"title":"Proof-of-stake (PoS)","url":"https://ethereum.org/developers/docs/consensus-mechanisms/pos/","publisher":"ethereum.org","type":"official","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:20"},{"id":201,"title":"Prague-Electra (Pectra)","url":"https://ethereum.org/roadmap/pectra/","publisher":"ethereum.org","type":"official","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:48"},{"id":160,"title":"The Merge","url":"https://ethereum.org/roadmap/merge/","publisher":"ethereum.org","type":"official","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:18"},{"id":202,"title":"Ethereum Activates Fusaka Upgrade, Aiming to Cut Node Costs, Speed Layer-2 Settlements","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2025/12/03/ethereum-activates-fusaka-upgrade-aiming-to-cut-node-costs-speed-layer-2-settlements","publisher":"CoinDesk","type":"news","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:49"},{"id":203,"title":"Layer 2","url":"https://ethereum.org/layer-2/","publisher":"ethereum.org","type":"official","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:49"},{"id":191,"title":"Client diversity","url":"https://ethereum.org/developers/docs/nodes-and-clients/client-diversity/","publisher":"ethereum.org","type":"official","accessed_at":"2026-09-18 18:01:43"}],"published_at":"2026-09-18 07:10:23"}