The Ethereum network is a decentralised blockchain that relies on a distributed network of nodes to process transactions and execute smart contracts. Each transaction or smart contract execution requires computational resources, such as computing power and storage, to be executed. Gas is a unit that measures the amount of computational work required to process a transaction or smart contract on the Ethereum network.

When minting an NFT, you will be quoted a predicted cost of the minting process in dollars. This cost includes the gas fee required to process the transaction on the Ethereum network. If you see an unusually high gas fee, it may be due to high network congestion at that moment. In such cases, it's advisable to wait and monitor gas prices until the prices have normalised before proceeding with the minting process.

It's important to note that gas fees are not collected by KnownOrigin, but are instead paid to the validators as an incentive for them to validate transactions and execute smart contracts. You can read more about what Gas why it's essential to the Etherium network here.