86 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
86 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
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# Gas and Fees
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Learn about the differences between `Gas` and `Fees` in Ethereum and Cosmos. {synopsis}
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## Pre-requisite Readings
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- [Cosmos SDK Gas](https://docs.cosmos.network/master/basics/gas-fees.html) {prereq}
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- [Ethereum Gas](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/gas/) {prereq}
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The concept of Gas represents the amount of computational effort required to execute specific operations on the state machine.
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Gas was created on Ethereum to disallow the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) from running infinite
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loops by allocating a small amount of monetary value into the system. A unit of gas, usually in a
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form as a fraction of the native coin, is consumed for every operation on the EVM and requires a
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user to pay for these operations. These operations consist in state transitions such as sending a
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transaction or calling a contract.
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Exactly like Ethereum, Cosmos utilizes the concept of gas and this is how Cosmos tracks the resource
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usage of operations during execution. Operations on Cosmos are represented as read or writes done to the chain's store.
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In Cosmos, a fee is calculated and charged to the user during a message execution. This fee is
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calculated from the sum of all gas consumed in an message execution:
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```
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fee = gas * gas price
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```
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In both networks, gas is used to make sure that operations do not require an excess amount of
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computational power to complete and as a way to deter bad-acting users from spamming the network.
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## Cosmos SDK `Gas`
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In the Cosmos SDK, gas is tracked in the main `GasMeter` and the `BlockGasMeter`:
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- `GasMeter`: keeps track of the gas consumed during executions that lead to state transitions. It is reset on every transaction execution.
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- `BlockGasMeter`: keeps track of the gas consumed in a block and enforces that the gas does not go over a predefined limit. This limit is defined in the Tendermint consensus parameters and can be changed via governance parameter change proposals.
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More information regarding gas in Cosmos SDK can be found [here](https://docs.cosmos.network/master/basics/gas-fees.html).
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## Matching EVM Gas consumption
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Ethermint is an EVM-compatible chain that supports Ethereum Web3 tooling. For this reason, gas
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consumption must be equitable with other EVMs, most importantly Ethereum.
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The main difference between EVM and Cosmos state transitions, is that the EVM uses a [gas table](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/blob/master/params/protocol_params.go) for each OPCODE, whereas Cosmos uses a `GasConfig` that charges gas for each CRUD operation by setting a flat and per-byte cost for accessing the database.
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+++ https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/blob/3fd376bd5659f076a4dc79b644573299fd1ec1bf/store/types/gas.go#L187-L196
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In order to match the the gas consumed by the EVM, the gas consumption logic from the SDK is ignored, and instead the gas consumed is calculated by subtracting the state transition leftover gas from the gas limit defined on the message.
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### `AnteHandler`
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The Cosmos SDK [`AnteHandler`](https://docs.cosmos.network/master/basics/gas-fees.html#antehandler)
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performs basic checks prior to transaction execution. These checks are usually signature
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verification, transaction field validation, transaction fees, etc.
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Regarding gas consumption and fees, the `AnteHandler` checks that the user has enough balance to
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cover for the tx cost (amount plus fees) as well as checking that the gas limit defined in the
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message is greater or equal than the computed intrinsic gas for the message.
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## Gas Refunds
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In The EVM, gas can be specified prior to execution and the remaining gas will be refunded back to
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the user if any gas is left over. The same logic applies to Ethermint, where the gas refunded will be capped to a fraction of the used gas depending on the fork/version being used.
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## 0 Fee Transactions
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In Cosmos, a minimum gas price is not enforced by the `AnteHandler` as the `min-gas-prices` is
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checked against the local node/validator. In other words, the minimum fees accepted are determined
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by the validators of the network, and each validator can specify a different minimum value for their fees.
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This potentially allows end users to submit 0 fee transactions if there is at least one single
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validator that is willing to include transactions with `0` gas price in their blocks proposed.
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For this same reason, in Ethermint it is possible to send transactions with `0` fees for transaction
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types other than the ones defined by the `evm` module. EVM module transactions cannot have `0` fees
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as gas is required inherently by the EVM. This check is done by the EVM transactions stateless validation
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(i.e `ValidateBasic`) function as well as on the custom `AnteHandler` defined by Ethermint.
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## Next {hide}
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Learn about the different types of [tokens](./tokens.md) available {hide}
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