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Gas Fees

Blockchains contain a fee model that requires users and developers to pay for transactions. This fee is often known as a gas fee [or sometimes a transaction fee]. Gas fees are utilized for two (2) reasons:
  1. To pay for the compute resources requires to execute a transaction
  2. To prevent spam and DDoS attacks on the network
While gas tokens are not always bad, they can be a barrier of entry for users and developers. The most common issues found with valuable gas are:
  1. Users and developers must purchase gas tokens to interact with the network
  2. Users and developers must manage gas tokens to ensure they have enough to interact with the network
  3. Network congestion can lead to spikes in gas consumption which can lead to high gas fees
While solving the first two (2) issues is ideal for building applications that can be adopted globally, the third issue is a bit more complex. Network congestion is a common issue on blockchains and often results in dApps becoming unusable or unavailable during periods of congestion.

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Zero Gas Fees

SKALE solves the above issues with a unique design known as zero gas fees. There is a gas token on SKALE, however, it has no monetary or economic value. This token operates just like Ether on Ethereum, however, with no monetary value it cannot be traded or sold. The token on SKALE exists for two (2) reasons:
  1. To ensure compatibility with popular EVM tooling. This allows developers on existing EVM based blockchains like Ethereum to quickly start building on SKALE
  2. To prevent spam and DDoS attacks on the network

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SKALE Fuel

The native gas token on every SKALE Chain is known as SKALE Fuel or sFUEL for short. sFUEL is something that is distributed by either the SKALE Chain Operator, the dApp to users, or a public faucet.
  • For Developers: With the zero gas fee model, developers can start building on SKALE instantly without having to first purchase gas tokens. Additionally, putting more onchain and having larger smart contracts or many smart contracts is no longer a concern.
  • For Users: Even better, users do not need to purchase gas tokens to interact with dApps on SKALE. With sFUEL being given to users invisibly during onboarding to a dApp — which is a process called sFUEL Distribution — users can start interacting with applications on SKALE and never even know they are “onchain”.

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SKALE Gasless Transactions

SKALE also supports gasless transactions, which allow users to interact with the network without sFUEL in their wallet. This is achieved through a Proof of Work mechanism that generates “magic numbers” to validate transactions.