Welcome to Jaxx Academy — an ongoing series of short videos where you’ll learn about blockchain, cryptocurrency, and the decentralized movement. In this video (see below), we answer the question, what are mining fees.

Mining Fees Explained

When sending someone crypto, you may notice a difference between what you send and what is received. This difference is what we call a mining fee (or, what is sometimes referred to as, a transaction fee.)

To ensure that your transactions are processed on a blockchain, you will typically incur mining fees. This fee is paid to miners, to confirm and process your transactions, and to secure these transactions on the network.

Depending on the market, a higher mining fee may be sent for a more likelihood that your transaction will be confirmed in a short period of time. Conversely, if your mining fees are lower, your transaction may take longer to confirm.

Calculating these fees, however, can be difficult, and why some crypto wallets (like Jaxx Liberty) do the calculations for you. Many times, crypto wallets do this by providing you with a tiered option: low, typical, and high — where, typical is the recommended or standard fee estimation.

Next time you’re sending a transaction, be mindful of the fees you are attaching to the transaction. Is it higher or lower than is required? Or, are you paying just the right amount (the recommended fee) to ensure your transaction arrives on time.

We hope this video helped to demystify what mining fees are. You can check out our Block Explorer blog post here, and our full Jaxx Academy playlist on YouTube, here.