- Native vs Non-Native Tokens
- Explaining How Gas is Consumed in a Blockchain
- Why Non-Native Tokens Aren’t Used for Gas?
Native tokens have always been the only way to pay transaction costs, i.e., gas fees, on a blockchain. This also limits users since, for every transaction, users must arrange additional native tokens just to pay the gas fee.
Native vs Non-Native Tokens
A native token was created with the creation of the blockchain, while a non-native token was either minted or bridged to the blockchain much later. For example, Ether (ETH) is a native token of the Ethereum blockchain, while USDT is a non-native token. Similarly, SOL is a native token of the Solana blockchain, and BONK is a non-native token.
Explaining How Gas is Consumed in a Blockchain
The role of gas is to act as a form of compensation for validators who are verifying blockchain transactions. When a transaction is initiated, validators add it to the blockchain. This work is calculated in terms of the amount of gas needed to complete the task. Once the task is finished, any excess gas is returned to the address that sent the transaction. The amount of gas to be consumed is never fixed and remains a floating value to prevent network blockage. Hence, even if two transactions are sent one after the other, they will incur different gas fees.
Why Non-Native Tokens Aren’t Used for Gas?
Public blockchains like Ethereum have millions of users, and each one might prefer a different crypto to pay the gas fee if allowed. This would not only cause extremely unpredictable revenues for validators but also a lack of standardization. Using a single token helps users predict their transaction costs and helps validators estimate their earnings. Allowing multiple tokens for gas fees would create unnecessary confusion among users. Additionally, since each token has a floating value, it would be impossible to accurately estimate gas fees and validator earnings. Without estimated earnings, a validator would never be able to decide if they get a profit on their investment. Also, using non-native tokens could greatly compromise the security of the blockchain. For example, if Ethereum accepts a new token called XYZ for the gas fee, and the price of this token is manipulated, this could lead to significant vulnerabilities in the system.
Gas fees are vital payments that keep a blockchain functioning. They help validators get compensated for their work and encourage users to transact on the blockchain. While it would be convenient for users to use any tokens to pay for gas fees, this is not preferable from a security and standardization viewpoint. Using highly volatile tokens could compromise the blockchain. Further, using multiple tokens for gas fees would also create confusion and extra work for validators. Hence, all blockchains only allow gas fees to be paid in native tokens.
