Cardano has around 30 network parameters. Parameters are the mechanisms that control how the Cardano Blockchain works.

Today, we are exploring a parameter that serves as the foundation of Cardano's economic security model. Our parameter for the day is the min_fee_b parameter. In a previous installment in the series we wrote about its counterpart min_fee_a. Unlike min_fee_a, which scales with transaction size, min_fee_b is more fundamental: the baseline cost that every single transaction must pay, regardless of its size or complexity.

When a transaction is made on the Cardano network, a certain fee is associated with it. This fee serves several functions: it remunerates the stake pool operators for running the network, it incentivizes pool delegators with staking rewards, it…