What are transaction fees?
In order to be considered a successful and valid transfer, every cryptocurrency transaction must be added to the blockchain, the official public ledger of all completed transactions.
This vital work requires computational energy provided by miners, powerful computers that make up a portion of the network and confirm its transactions.
The ongoing computing by miners to validate and confirm transactions on the Bitcoin network gives the network many of its special, decentralized properties. Simply put, it would not nor could not exist without them.
Miners get financially rewarded for the vast amounts of computing power and energy they expend supporting the network. With every block (a collection of transactions) added to the blockchain comes a bounty called a block reward, as well as all fees sent with the transactions that were confirmed and included in the block.
High vs. low fees
Miners have a financial incentive to prioritize the validation of transactions that include a higher fee.
While every transaction depends on a number of factors, such as transaction size and network, in general, those sent with a higher fee will generally confirm more quickly than those with lower fees.
Your Blockchain wallet will automatically calculate the appropriate fee for sending your chosen cryptocurrency. The fee for sending ether is static (you can view the fee for sending ether by clicking “Send” and selecting Ether as the currency), while the fees for sending bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and stellar are dynamic and are calculated by your wallet after you input the amount you want to send.
How do I customize my transaction fees?
The Blockchain.com wallet also has a Customize Fee option that allows users to specify a custom fee and this can come in handy to help ensure your transaction confirms quickly during periods of congestion.
We recommend this option to experienced users with an understanding of transaction fees only.
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