Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum Gas Fees are Too High and Complex

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• Vitalik Buterin has said that Ethereum gas fees are too high and the way they are presented in crypto apps is confusing
• Buterin explained several occasions where he had been beaten by inferior crypto infrastructure in the real world
• The Ethereum founder called for greater awareness of gas fees and an easier way to handle them

Vitalik Buterin has stated that more needs to be done to improve the real-world use of cryptocurrencies for transactions, saying that unsophisticated users aren’t aware of what gas fees are or how much they might be charged through them. Buterin relayed some experiences of his use of cryptocurrencies which highlight how, although things have progressed, over the years, there is still much to be done to make the process as smooth as using cash or contactless payments.

Buterin Can’t Foot the Bill

Butrerin began his blog post with a story about how he tried to buy sushi with Bitcoin in 2013, but the transaction failed because the mobile signal wasn’t strong enough. In 2021 he tried to pay for a round of drinks in Argentina with Ethereum but had to pay three times the value of the bill in gas fees, which he said he considered a “tip”. A year later, he tried to pay for some more drinks at a different location, but this time he had issues with the default gas amount on his mobile wallet, which also wouldn’t allow him to amend the limit to send the transaction through.

In addition to these issues, Buterin added that often he has experienced “a surprisingly long time delay between my transaction getting accepted on-chain, and the service acknowledging the transaction, even as “unconfirmed”.” He also expressed his concern about the “surprisingly long and unpredictable time delay between sending a transaction, and that transaction getting accepted in a block”, adding that the transaction would sometimes take “minutes or even hours”.

More Needs to be Done

With reference to a remedy, Buterin noted that the implementation of EIP-1559 into Ethereum had “significantly improved” the issues, which should improve over time, but he argued that “UX around transaction inclusion needs to be improved”, allowing users to have more of an idea about what gas is and how it can be altered if the users wants.

Such steps are indeed crucial in allowing everyday users to understand how crypto works on a transactional basis and demystifying the seemingly complex issues that lie beneath it.