Glossary
Priority Fee
Under EIP-1559, the optional per-gas tip a user adds above the base fee to reward the block proposer for including their transaction, most useful during congestion.
The priority fee, often called the tip, is set with the
maxPriorityFeePerGas field and is paid directly to the proposer
rather than burned like the base fee. It is the lever users pull to
compete for scarce blockspace: a higher tip signals the proposer to
place the transaction ahead of others in the same block.
When blocks are far from full, a tip of one or two gwei is usually
enough, and much of the time near-zero works. During congestion —
popular mint, liquidation cascade, or an arbitrage race — tips spike
as senders outbid each other. The wallet's effective gas price is the
base fee plus this tip, capped by the separate maxFeePerGas value.