A term native to the Ethereum network which refers to the payment for transactions and contract services.

Gas refers to the payment or pricing structure on the Ethereum blockchain which underlines every transaction and contract execution. In other words, for every transaction, a user on the Ethereum network has to pay gas fees. The exact fees, however, are not determined by the network’s administrators, but by miners who the network compensates for their work in the verification of transactions. Even so, these miners cannot set arbitrary prices but have to look at demand and supply before deciding on gas fees.

Although gas was originally derived from the ether (ETH), there are price conversion mechanisms to get gas equivalents in other cryptos. Nevertheless, gas fees are still more traditionally used on the Ethereum network.

The highest amount users on the Ethereum network are willing to pay for transactions.

The gas limit is the highest amount per transaction that a user is willing to pay for using the Ethereum network. It is a kind of guarantee mechanism for the speed of a transaction since it means that a user can ‘inspire’ miners to verify transactions quicker by setting a higher gas limit. Similarly, when a user sets overly low gas limits, the transactions usually take longer to verify since miners may not immediately pay the transaction any mind.

Thus, in the same way that gas is determined by miners who confirm transactions and oversee Ethereum blocks, it is also the prerogative of miners to agree to or ignore the fees imputed by users. The gas limit acts as the indicator for how committed a miner can be to a transaction.

Financial contracts that serve as proof that traders have agreed to buy or sell assets at a specific future date and price.

A futures contract is a type of forward contract that solidifies the agreement between two or more trading parties that a particular asset will be available for sale at a future date and price. These contracts are overseen by established exchange platforms, so that the involved trading entities cannot back out of the contract. The objective of a futures contract is to speculate on the price of the asset or commodity in question and protect oneself against possible fluctuations in the asset’s market price at the agreed-upon date.

Futures contracts are commonly used by traders to reduce financial exposure, especially when it is highly likely that prices will move unfavorably. Thus, a futures contract is one of the classic financial instruments for hedging in corporate finance.

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