The XRPL-EVM sidechain uses Ethereum's EIP-1559 fee model — the same model Ethereum L1 has used since August 2021. Two prices, one fee, predictable economics.
The two prices
Every transaction declares two numbers:
- base fee — set by the network, burned (or in XRPL-EVM's case, recycled). Adjusts up or down ~12.5% per block based on demand.
- priority tip — paid to the validator who includes your tx. Your incentive for them to pick yours over a competing one.
Your total gas cost is: gas_used × (base_fee + priority_tip).
The wallet caps the total at a max fee per gas so that if the base fee spikes between your sign and inclusion, you're not surprised.
What "max fee" means
When you sign a transaction, you authorise up to max_fee_per_gas
to be charged per unit of gas. The network charges the actual rate
at inclusion time, which is always base_fee + tip (capped at your
max). The difference is refunded.
Example:
- You sign with max_fee_per_gas = 50 gwei and tip = 1 gwei
- Block base fee at inclusion is 20 gwei
- You pay 20 + 1 = 21 gwei per gas unit
- 29 gwei × your gas units is refunded back to you
This is dramatically friendlier than the pre-EIP-1559 model where you guessed a fixed gas price and either overpaid or got stuck pending.
How the Gopnik wallet picks defaults
For the XRPL-EVM sidechain (typical base fee ~2-5 gwei):
priority_tip = 1 gwei(sufficient on a low-traffic sidechain)max_fee_per_gas = min(2 × base_fee + tip, 100 gwei)(won't blow up even during congestion)
Power users can override both. The defaults are safe for the 99% case.
When gas estimation fails
The wallet runs eth_estimateGas before signing. If the simulation
reverts (the tx would fail on-chain), the estimator throws and we
abort the send — no gas wasted on a doomed tx.
Common revert reasons: - ERC-20 allowance not granted to the contract - Insufficient balance - Contract paused / function disabled - Slippage tolerance exceeded on a swap
The error surface usually shows the EVM revert reason. Read it before re-trying.
Gas in human terms
On Ethereum L1, a swap might cost €20. On the XRPL-EVM sidechain, the equivalent costs fractions of a cent. That's the entire reason a Layer-2-style architecture exists.
But: you still pay gas in XRP. If your sidechain XRP balance is zero, you can't sign anything — including the receive of an ERC-20 token, which requires gas to bring it onto your balance sheet. Always keep a few XRP for gas before bridging in other tokens.