Term

Fee

The amount paid to include a transaction in a block; incentivizes miners/validators and helps prevent spam.

Type:
blockchain
economics
Also known as:
Transaction Fee
1
concept

Fees compensate block producers for processing and storing transactions. Levels depend on supply (block space) and demand (pending transactions).

Example 1.1

BCH typically maintains sub-cent fees due to larger blocks, enabling microtransactions; other chains see spikes when blocks fill.

2
mechanics

UTXO chains price fees by virtual size (vbytes); account chains use gas with per-op costs. Wallets estimate fees from mempool conditions to target confirmation times.

Example 2.1

A wallet suggests a higher sat/vB during congestion to get confirmed in the next block; with empty mempools, minimum relay fees suffice.

All terms and definitions may update as the Cryptionary improves.