In the Ethereum network, Gas is a unit that measures the computational resources required to execute transactions or smart contract operations, serving as a pricing mechanism for computation, storage, and bandwidth usage on the network. The Gas consumption mechanism prevents network abuse and incentivizes miners (or validators) to process transactions. Without it, malicious users could flood the network with excessive transactions or infinite-loop smart contracts, slowing down or paralyzing the entire system. The Gas mechanism increases the cost of such attacks, thereby maintaining network stability.
The amount of Gas consumed depends on the complexity of the transaction. A basic transfer typically consumes 21,000 Gas, while smart contract interactions (such as DeFi transactions or NFT minting) involve more computations and may consume tens of thousands or even millions of Gas. Gas Price is usually denominated in Gwei, 1 Gwei = 0.000000001 ETH. If the network is congested, you may need to increase the Gas Price to speed up transaction processing by miners.
Additionally, the Gas mechanism is related to the Gas Limit, which users can set for individual transactions to prevent infinite Gas consumption due to smart contract errors or unexpected issues. If a transaction runs out of Gas during execution, the operation will revert, but the consumed Gas will not be refunded. Conversely, if the actual Gas used is less than the set limit, the remaining portion is returned to the user. Through this mechanism, Gas not only ensures the efficient operation of the Ethereum network but also maintains a balance in resource allocation and economic incentives.