For a comparison, here's a list of network fees for a few other coins built on their own platform/blockchain.

ALGO
Network fee:
0.001 ALGO
0.0004 USD

ARK
Network fee:
0.1 ARK
0.0366 USD

KMD
Network fee:
0.00000968 KMD
0.0000 USD

XVG
Network fee:
0.1 XVG
0.0013 USD

ADA
Network fee:
0.3685 ADA
0.1085 USD

XEM
Network fee:
0.15 XEM
0.0320 USD

XTZ
Network fee:
0.0055 XTZ
0.0127 USD

ATOM
Network fee:
0.0025 ATOM
0.0144 USD

ZIL
Network fee:
0.0021 ZIL
0.0001 USD

WAVES
Network fee:
0.001 WAVES
0.0064 USD

ONT
Network fee:
0.0875 ONG
0.0191 USD

ICX
Network fee:
0.3 ICX
0.1742 USD

QTUM
Network fee:
0.00035288 QTUM
0.0010 USD

LSK
Network fee:
0.1 LSK
0.1230 USD

There are only 3 in the list above that cost 10 cents or more per transaction.  Why would any developer choose to build on ethereum when the tokens they issue are literally worthless?  No one can afford to send or exchange them so once they're issued they just sit in the wallet indefinitely.


I completely disagree.  It is a problem.  If a token is to be a store of value and exchanged for goods or services then it must be inexpensive to send the token.  ERC20 tokens are generally issued to be used for a company's services.  Maybe it's cloud computing, file storage, DeFi, whatever.  It has to be inexpensive to send those tokens otherwise no one is going to use that company's services.  If the token is unused then the services are unused.

I understand there is processing power and electricity involved in verifying transactions on the blockchain.  And I don't complain when VISA or paypal charges a small fee to process a transaction.  But the transaction/network fee has to be so insignificant that it doesn't impede the buyer/sender from completing the transaction.

I should also mention that it's typically the seller/receiver of the funds that pays the transaction fee, not the buyer/sender.  Imagine shopping online or even in a retail store and you were expected to pay $17 in order to charge your VISA card for a $50 purchase.  No one would agree to that.

Every time you visit a web page you're using bandwidth, file storage and processing power from a server.  Would it make sense to charge a fee every time you load a new page in your browser?  We all pay a monthly fee to our ISP and we expect everything (not behind a paywall) to be free.  Perhaps that is the solution to the network/transaction fees.  Pay a monthly crypto fee to use a specific blockchain and all transactions are free (unlimited bandwidth, processing, etc).  Or they could just lower the cost per transaction to a few cents.

Let me start by saying that I avoid investing in ERC20 tokens like the plague.  Sending/swapping generally costs more than the total value of the tokens that I'm sending/swapping.  I don't know why any project would choose to run their app/token on ethereum when considering the cost of gas.  For a comparison, scroll through the list of coins supported by Atomic Wallet and click send on a few of them.  You don't need any coins in your wallet to do this.  You'll discover that nearly every other coin costs a fraction of a cent ($0.01) to send.  But click on any ERC20 token in that wallet and you'll see a gas cost between $10-$17 (e.g., coti or lrc).

I have a bunch of ERC20 tokens in a wallet that I don't use and would love to close and forget.  It only contains those tokens.  But the tokens aren't supported on any exchange that I use which only leaves uniswap.  In order to convert the tokens to a different ERC20 token that is supported on my preferred exchange it will cost me $17 in ETH.  Then I'll have to pay another $17 in ETH to send them to my exchange account.  I don't own any ETH so I'll have to purchase $34 worth plus CC fees.  Let's say a total of $37.  The total value of my tokens is only $50 but I'm expected to pay $37 to swap and then send them to a different account.  The math doesn't add up.  I'd probably pay $1 to swap those tokens but not $37.  So for now I have to leave them where they are and probably never use them again because the gas cost is so high.

Why does it cost so much more to send ERC20 tokens than other coins and tokens?  Is there any way around the problem I described above?  Will ETH 2.0 solve this and what do you expect the gas cost to be on the new 2.0 platform?

EDIT
I wanted to add that I suspect the value of a large percentage of tokens is based largely on the fact that no one can afford to send/exchange/sell them.  So in financial terms what does that mean?  If no one's selling, the price remains stable.  The second that the gas cost declines significantly, the more people will be selling those tokens that they've been holding.  If ETH 2.0 does in fact reduce gas cost to a few cents per transaction expect the value of tokens to plummet.  My 2 cents...

Hi folks,

I have an ontology dilemma.  I've had a bunch of ontology tokens in my wallet for a long time but never tried to send or stake them until today.  As it turns out, I need .05 ONG to send ONT.  And I need .1 ONG to begin staking ONT.  This was literally a catch 22 for me because I can't trade any of my current cryptos for ONG on the exchanges that I use.  Binance supports ONG but binance.us does not.  The other exchanges that I've previously used don't support it either.  My wallet does support exchanging crypto for ONG but they have a minimum that they require you to exchange.  I only need .1 to start staking and once I start staking I'll start earning more ONG.  So I don't want any more than 1 ONG to get started.

I'd like to trade 1 ALGO for 1 ONG.  Current price of ALGO is twice that of ONG.  Please PM me ALGO wallet address if interested in the trade.  I'll update the thread as soon as the trade is completed.  Thanks.

NOTE: I'm assuming that I can send 1 ALGO at a time.  I haven't tried to send that small a quantity before so if there are any issues I have other coins I can trade.  I don't know if my wallet has a minimum amount that must be sent.

EDIT
I have the ONG.  Problem solved.  Thanks.