What are gas fees?

Gas fees are transaction fees paid to validators on Ethereum. U2NFT does not receive these fees and is not able to refund them. U2NFT also doesn't control gas prices nor does it profit from them.

In this article, we'll explain what validators are and explore why gas fees are needed. We'll also go over the two categories of gas fees you'll encounter on U2NFT (one-time fees and recurring fees), as well as failed transactions.

Let's dive in!

What are validators on Unicorn Ultra?

U2U uses a Delegated-proof-of-stake (DPOS) consensus mechanism. In proof-of-stake, a validator receives blocks from peers on the U2U network and re-executes transactions to make sure the block is valid.

Validators have dedicated significant funds to the network in the form of staked U2U. This “stake” amount replaces the work miners did in proof-of-work, securing the network because a participant must buy and hold cryptocurrency in order to be chosen to validate blocks and receive gas fees.

When you pay gas fees, the payment only guarantees your transaction to be processed. It does not guarantee that the transaction will succeed.

This is because gas prices on U2U fluctuate. If there is a high level of activity on U2U—for example, a popular NFT collection is being released—gas prices will rise due to network congestion. In this case, the original gas fee you paid may no longer be high enough for validators to process and confirm the transaction.

When are gas fees needed on U2NFT?

When you transfer or purchase an NFT using U2NFT, you'll need enough cryptocurrency in your wallet to cover the associated gas fees.

There are two categories of user actions that result in U2U gas fees on U2NFT:

• One-time fees

• Recurring fees

One-Time Fees: Token or Contract Approvals

As we mentioned above, there are a few one-time fees you'll have to pay when using U2U for the first time. These transactions are required to grant certain permissions for your wallet to interact.

Suppose the item you're listing was not created using U2NFT tools, but was instead minted through a custom NFT collection contract. In that case, you'll need to pay a one-time approval fee authorizing transactions between that NFT smart contract and your wallet.

Token approval is required whenever you interact with a cryptocurrency for the first time. These are one-time fees per contract or token.

Recurring Fees

You will pay gas fees on U2U when:

• Accepting an offer

• Transferring (or gifting) an NFT to someone

• Buying an NFT

• Canceling an NFT listing

• Canceling a bid

• Freezing your metadata

Gas-Free Actions

These actions don't require gas fees:

• Using tools on U2NFT to create a new NFT, also known as "Lazy Minting"

• Creating a collection

• Account initialization / proxy deployment

• Listing an NFT at a fixed price

• Listing an NFT in an auction

• Reducing the price of an NFT you've listed

  • Price drops only apply to URC-721 NFTs and not URC-1155 NFTs

  • Canceling listings will incur a gas fee

• Canceling an offer

  • Your order may be delayed for a few minutes as we check to make sure there are no outstanding attempts to fulfill the offer. After choosing to cancel an offer, you’ll see the option to pay gas to send an on-chain cancellation to cancel immediately.