Most have forgotten already the heady 2020 days when gas fees for moving anything on the ETH network was something in the neighborhood of $30-40 a transaction. For example, everyone wanted to jump in on Harvest's De-Fi but few could because it only made sense to pay the insane ETH gas fee when you were moving amounts of $1000-5000 at a time. Otherwise, you were just burning your money away. The same is going to start creeping up again if the current bull run continues, probably not as bad though since ETH is no longer as profitable for mining and processing those same transactions. Still, however, the gas fees add up.
Interestingly, however, there have always been alternatives, especially if people had access to defi swaps and exchanges. By simply taking the crypto that is super-expensive to transfer and exchanging it to a crypto format that is not, one can save dozens even hundreds of dollars in cost. This is done by simply exchanging the given ERC-20 coin or token to a network that is pennies if anything to transfer.
Litecoin (LTC) and Polygon (MATIC) both provide easy channels for transferring funds with minimal costs. In fact, in most cases, transfers are practically pennies. The key is to have the ability to exchange on the side that is sending as well as the side that is receiving, assuming one doesn't need to keep it in the transfer form. On the other hand, if you just stack your money in LTC or MATIC and don't give a darn, even better. Granted you still pay some fees in exchange, but they are typically far less than anything paid in gas fees.
The Nano (NANO) network has also been a big winner in transferring value for nothing. It's extremely fast, can handle large fund amounts, and it's very established and accessible, both with online wallets as well as apps. Further, NANO is heavily accepted and paired on most exchanges, which makes it easy to find and use. Banano (BAN) is a fork off off the Nano network, and just as usable with almost the same benefits. However, BAN is not as widespread in terms of adoption and it can't be found on a lot of exchanges. If it were, it would probably be used just as much as NANO for transferring.
Some people don't feel bothered and just accept the gas fees, but personally I feel that's leaving good money on the table without any good justification. And, personally, I like to keep my money in my pocket versus handing it off willy-nilly for no good reason. Necessity pushes creativity, and using alternative coins to transfer value just makes smart sense.
