[_6hmp]

A small bit of nuance that could explain why the range could be $3.5 to $22 on a given day would be that they could be referring to different token types. The native token of ethereum (Ether) costs a fixed, smaller number of units of computation to send, whereas custom tokens (erc-20) have to do some additional bootstrapping work during transactions and cost more to send.

So there's the units of computation used x "gas price".

But yes, the "gas price" that serves to price congestion on the network is wildly variable due to congestion and low throughput. And that limited throughput is currently a real practical problem as you've pointed out in that the fees are too high.

The answer will likely be in L2s as other people are pointing out. I think one interesting side effect of this ecosystem is it is actually driving new research and application for cryptography (including substantial funding): for example practical uses of zero knowledge proofs.

[j_walter]

Exactly this...it's not apples to apples comparison. Transferring an NFT is a larger transaction size so the cost is higher (hence the $22 price they are referring). The cost of the transaction is also based on how busy the blockchain is...like a way to discourage transactions if it's really busy. Like if you had a gas station that the price of gas (or actually more like a fee to use the gas pump) fluctuated based on how long the lines were.