# Wei and gwei: converting Ethereum amounts and gas prices

Wei is Ethereum’s smallest ETH denomination: one ETH is 10^18 wei. One gwei is 10^9 wei, so one ETH is one billion gwei. Gas prices are often quoted in gwei per gas; multiply by gas used to calculate the execution-gas fee, then convert the result into ETH.

Evidence: [Gas and fees](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/gas/); [Ethereum accounts](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/accounts/)

Canonical: https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/wei-and-gwei/
Published: 2026-10-02
Substantively modified: 2026-10-02
Independently verified by an automated reviewer: 2026-10-02T18:12:41.505Z
Data current through: 2026-10-02

AI-assisted research and drafting with a separate automated source-verification pass; no external expert or named human review is implied.

## Key facts

- **Wei:** 1 ETH = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 wei. ([Ethereum accounts](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/accounts/))
- **Gwei:** 1 gwei = 1,000,000,000 wei. ([Gas and fees](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/gas/))
- **Execution fee:** Gas used × effective price per gas gives the execution-gas charge. ([Fee market change for ETH 1.0 chain](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-1559); [Ethereum JSON-RPC](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/apis/json-rpc/))

## Keep the units attached to each number

An illustrative operation using 50,000 gas at 12 gwei per gas costs 600,000 gwei, or 0.0006 ETH, for execution gas. The transferred ETH value is a separate field and may be zero.

The gas limit is a maximum allowance for work, not necessarily the gas actually consumed. Use the receipt’s actual gas used for an after-the-fact calculation.

Evidence: [Gas and fees](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/gas/); [Fee market change for ETH 1.0 chain](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-1559); [Ethereum JSON-RPC](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/apis/json-rpc/)

## Use integer units when handling exact values

RPC responses commonly encode quantities as hexadecimal integers. Software should preserve the integer value and apply the appropriate display scale instead of passing large wei values through an imprecise floating-point representation.

ERC-20 tokens have their own decimals conventions. A token with six decimals does not become an 18-decimal asset merely because it runs on Ethereum.

Evidence: [Ethereum JSON-RPC](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/apis/json-rpc/); [ERC-20 Token Standard](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-20)

## Execution gas is not every possible fee

A blob transaction has a separate blob-gas component. Rollup fees can also include components beyond the execution charge visible in a simple mainnet example.

Name the fee component and network before comparing numbers. A bare “12 gwei” does not tell a reader the total amount paid.

Evidence: [Shard Blob Transactions](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4844); [Gas and fees](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/gas/); [OP Stack transaction fees](https://docs.optimism.io/stack/transactions/fees)

## Questions

### Does a gas price of 20 gwei mean the transaction costs 20 gwei?

No. That is a price per gas unit. The total execution-gas charge depends on how many gas units the transaction consumes and its effective price.

Evidence: [Gas and fees](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/gas/); [Fee market change for ETH 1.0 chain](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-1559)

## Claims and scope

### wei-and-gwei-quick-answer

Wei is Ethereum’s smallest ETH denomination: one ETH is 10^18 wei. One gwei is 10^9 wei, so one ETH is one billion gwei. Gas prices are often quoted in gwei per gas; multiply by gas used to calculate the execution-gas fee, then convert the result into ETH.

Scope: {"collection":"ethereum","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

### wei-and-gwei-fact-wei

Wei: 1 ETH = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 wei.

Scope: {"collection":"ethereum","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

### wei-and-gwei-fact-gwei

Gwei: 1 gwei = 1,000,000,000 wei.

Scope: {"collection":"ethereum","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

### wei-and-gwei-fact-execution-fee

Execution fee: Gas used × effective price per gas gives the execution-gas charge.

Scope: {"collection":"ethereum","dataAsOf":"2026-10-02","blockHeight":null}

## Sources

- [Gas and fees](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/gas/) — ethereum.org contributors. Execution resource units, fee components and gas expenditure. Locator: What is gas?; Base fee; Priority fee. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T17:03:41.688Z.
- [Ethereum accounts](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/accounts/) — ethereum.org contributors. Key-controlled and code-controlled accounts, balances, nonces and storage. Locator: Account types; An account examined; Account creation. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T17:03:41.958Z.
- [Fee market change for ETH 1.0 chain](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-1559) — Ethereum Improvement Proposals. Base fees, fee caps, priority fees and effective transaction gas price. Locator: Specification. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T17:03:42.151Z.
- [Ethereum JSON-RPC](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/apis/json-rpc/) — ethereum.org contributors. RPC response fields, transaction receipts, call simulation and log filtering. Locator: eth_getTransactionByHash; eth_getTransactionReceipt; eth_call; eth_getLogs; eth_getCode; eth_estimateGas; eth_getBalance; eth_getStorageAt; eth_getTransactionCount; default block parameter. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T17:03:42.060Z.
- [ERC-20 Token Standard](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-20) — Ethereum Improvement Proposals. Token supply, displayed units and balance accounting. Locator: totalSupply; balanceOf; transfer; decimals; approve; allowance; transferFrom; Transfer. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T17:03:45.826Z.
- [Shard Blob Transactions](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4844) — Ethereum Improvement Proposals. Blob commitments, separate blob-gas fee calculations and temporary data availability. Locator: Gas accounting; Opcode to get versioned hashes; Point evaluation precompile; Consensus layer validation. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T17:03:42.506Z.
- [OP Stack transaction fees](https://docs.optimism.io/stack/transactions/fees) — Optimism. Rollup execution, data-publication and operator fee components depend on active network upgrades. Locator: Gas fee components; Execution gas fee; L1 data fee; Operator fee. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T17:55:17.901Z.

## Revision history

- 2026-10-02: First publication after primary-source research and independent automated verification.

## Cite this entry

Degrees of Satoshi editorial project. “Wei and gwei: converting Ethereum amounts and gas prices.” Published 2026-10-02; updated 2026-10-02. https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/wei-and-gwei/