What Are “Gas Fees” and How Do They Relate to Smart Contract Execution on a Blockchain?

Gas fees are transaction fees paid to network validators or miners for the computational effort required to execute operations on the blockchain. Every action, from a simple transfer to a complex smart contract execution, consumes a certain amount of "gas," a unit measuring computational work.

The total fee is the amount of gas used multiplied by the gas price, which fluctuates based on network demand. These fees compensate validators for their work and prevent the network from being overwhelmed with spam or infinite loops in code.