Fees

Miden transactions pay a fee that is computed and charged automatically by the transaction kernel during the epilogue.

How fees are computed

• The fee depends on the number of VM cycles the transaction executes and grows logarithmically with that count.
• The kernel estimates the number of verification cycles by taking log2 of the estimated total execution cycles (rounded up). The result is then multiplied by the verification_base_fee from the reference block’s fee parameters.
• In other words, the fee is proportional to the logarithm of the transaction’s number of execution cycles, scaled by the base verification fee defined in the block header.

Which asset is used to pay fees

• Fees are paid in the chain’s native asset, defined by the current reference block’s fee parameters.
• The native asset is chosen once as part of the genesis block and then copied to every newly created block, which means the native asset stays consistent for a given network.

How fees are paid

• Users should ensure their account’s vault holds sufficient balance of the native asset to cover the fee. The fee is charged automatically; no explicit transaction kernel API must be called.
• If the account does not contain enough of the native asset to cover the computed fee, the transaction fails during the epilogue.