You have USDT in your wallet, but pressing Send produces an insufficient-fee message. The token you hold may differ from the asset used to pay fees. Gas fees pay for processing transactions on a blockchain.
Terms on the gas-fee screen
- Gas: A unit measuring the computation required for an operation.
- Gas price: The price paid per unit of gas.
- Gas limit: The maximum amount of gas a transaction is allowed to use.
- Network fee: The cost of actual processing, calculated differently by chain and transaction type.
Ethereum fees are usually paid in ETH. Other chains may use another native asset or offer sponsored fees. This is why you should first check which chain you are sending from.
Why similar transfers can cost different amounts
A simple transfer and a swap that calls several programs require different amounts of work. Congestion can increase costs as demand for processing rises. On an L2, the fee may include the cost of publishing data to the base chain as well as execution.
As an illustrative example, using 21,000 gas at an effective gas price of 10 gwei gives a calculated cost of 0.00021 ETH. This is an explanation, not a live fee quote. Do not assume every transaction uses exactly 21,000 gas.
Can a failed transaction still cost a fee?
A transaction that fails after the network attempts execution can still incur a charge for the computing resources used. Cancelling before signing, or a request never reaching the network, is a different situation. Do not rely only on the word “failed”: check whether a transaction hash exists and inspect its status.
An exchange's withdrawal charge is not always the same as the network gas fee. Before sending, check the wallet's estimated cost and the amount to be received. Avoid submitting the same request repeatedly because you are in a hurry.
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