Why is the Gas-Based Blockchain Problematic?

People generally dislike paying taxes and fees, and the services don't make up for them. But the difference between taxes and fees is that we pay taxes as a part of the common burden, while a fee is a payment for a particular benefit or privilege. 

Even so, studies show that people still do not enjoy paying for them as they usually go on top of another cost.

In the cryptocurrency field, many services and operations include a blockchain transaction fee. This fee "pays" the network validators for their services to the blockchain. Without the fees, nobody would have an incentive to dedicate their resources and help secure the network.

Unfortunately, these fees can increase the costs of operating a transaction, so it appears to be a significant problem of the gas-based blockchain. For example, these gas fees can be problematic for start-ups, primarily because they can make the offered services unfeasible for users.

The Fees problem explained

Typically, every user making a blockchain transaction must pay a transaction fee. With this gas fee (in Ethereum), the transaction is picked up by validators and added to the blockchain.

That's the case starting with simple transactions and progressing to creating a non-fungible token (NFT) or developing and executing a smart contract. 

For example, a resource-demanding operation could easily set back approximately 1,000,000 gas, while a simple transfer costs about 21,000. 

High ETH gas fees are also determined by the time of day of the transaction and the general demand. The more people transacting, the more congested the network becomes, resulting in higher gas fees. 

The transactions are prioritized by also using this gas fee. Because there is limited space in each Ethereum block, the fee price can increase or decrease related to it. 

Of course, each transaction needs a certain amount of computational resources to complete, which also requires gas. But, if we look at the problem globally, the gas fees generally increase over time, and the main reason for this is Ethereum's popularity. Soon, users expect higher prices, affecting the market, their businesses, and investments. 

The viability of blockchain fees and how they will influence the future development of the blockchain industry has already been debated by cryptocurrency users and investors. 

The disadvantage of traditional gas-based blockchains is that some businesses or industries do not want to pay for gas or that their customers have to pay for it just to complete these transactions. And regardless of how small they may be, the cost of these transactions on an industry/company level can add up. Because corporations have massive data storage, users must consider this if they want blockchain technology to break into the real-world business.

Gasless-blockchain alternatives

As a result, many users chose to look for a gasless blockchain. By using a gasless blockchain, various projects seek to reduce the drawbacks of pollution and gas fees. The mechanism behind a gasless blockchain is simple: a third party can send another user's transactions and pay themselves for the gas cost. 

In this system, users sign messages (not transactions) containing information about a transaction they would like to execute. 

Redlight Finance proposes such a gasless blockchain to address the issues mentioned. These gasless blockchains require no gas per transaction and do not ask users to stake the governance coin in exchange for a governance token (which is still "technically free"). 

This gasless blockchain creates an EVM-compatible environment that focuses on scalability, decentralization, and security. Because of the blockchain's gasless nature, users can target industries that may not have given blockchain integration much thought in the past.

Besides, a gasless blockchain is not limited to a specific type of transaction; any type can be completed if it is enrolled in and supported by a gasless blockchain. 

However, it depends on what the environment offers. For example, such an ecosystem could include peer-to-peer transactions, conversions, bridges, smart contracts, NFTs, and others.

Final thoughts

Gas-based blockchains, despite their popularity, became pretty problematic regarding the issues mentioned.

And considering how quickly the cryptocurrency field is expanding and evolving, a gasless blockchain can be a suitable option for many investors soon. 

However, before making any decision, you should still research this type of project thoroughly.

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