Gas prices on the Ethereum blockchain platform refers to the fee charged for a transaction. The fee depends on network's miners who process transactions and have to pay computational expenses. Gas prices are set in small fractions of ether.

Currently, high Ethereum gas fees are pushing away small DeFi investors. The price is rising along with the Ether price, although it is not as high as it was in 2020. Big token holders, or whales, are not feeling the rise in gas prices as much since the cost is per transaction, not the value of the transaction. High transaction fees indicate high demand, which is good for long-term investors and miners alike. However, individuals make small daily transactions using Ethereum are hurt.

Ethereum's high gas prices take away from the one of the primary purposes of the cryptocurrency, which are microtransaction payments. Miners set prices to execute transactions and can delay them or outright refuse to execute a transaction.

Ethereum's new fee model, Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559, will change the crypocurrency's bid-based transactions to set fees with tips for miners. Naturally, many miners are not happy with the new arrangement, which isn't in effect yet except on the Nethermind and Besu marketplaces.

Ethereum mining is expensive. It requires a significant investment in a GPU or ASICs mining rig. In places with high electricity rates, it can take many years for miners to recoup their investment. It's a risky business when you consider growing block difficulty. Profits drop as the difficulty grows, and eventually, it costs more in electricity than the miner earns. Getting more back on a mining rig is almost impossible as they quickly become obsolete.

As more people stay home because of COVED-19, we will see more people looking at investing or mining altcoins as a career. Experts say we can expect major changes from Ethereum and other altcoins to attract more interest.