Wei
What Is Wei
Wei is the smallest unit of the cryptocurrency Ether (ETH), which is the native currency of the Ethereum blockchain. Named after Wei Dai, a computer scientist and cryptographer, wei is used to denote the most granular amount of ETH in the Ethereum network.
One Ether is equivalent to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 wei (10^18). The purpose of having such a small unit is to allow for the handling and calculation of very small amounts of Ether, essential for the precision required in financial operations conducted within the Ethereum network. Using wei minimizes the risk of rounding errors and inaccuracies, by providing the granularity and precision needed for a wide range of transactions and smart contract operations.
Ether Denominations
Network participants must be familiar with converting between wei and other units, managing gas prices. The Ethereum network uses several denominations to express different amounts of Ether, each representing a power of ten. The primary units are:
Wei: 1 ETH = 10^18 wei
Kwei (Babbage): 1 ETH = 10^15 Kwei
Mwei (Lovelace): 1 ETH = 10^12 Mwei
Gwei (Shannon): 1 ETH = 10^9 Gwei
Microether (Szabo): 1 ETH = 10^6 Microether
Milliether (Finney): 1 ETH = 10^3 Milliether
When dealing with Ethereum transactions, wallets and other interfaces often display amounts in more comprehensible units like gwei or ether, but the actual transactions are executed in wei. Gwei, another commonly used unit, represents 1,000,000,000 wei (10^9) and is frequently used to denote gas prices on the Ethereum network.