The Ethereum network recently underwent an upgrade called Dencun, which has had a significant impact on transaction fees for layer 2 (L2) protocols. Many of these protocols have experienced a drastic reduction in fees, with some seeing a decrease of up to 99%. Starknet, one of the prominent L2s on Ethereum, shared a screenshot showing a gas fee drop from over $6 to just $0.04 after the Dencun upgrade.
Other L2 platforms such as Optimism, Base, and Zora OP mainnet have also witnessed a dramatic decline in gas fees following the upgrade. Optimism’s average transaction fees dropped to $0.05, Base saw a reduction to $0.064, Arbitrum recorded fees at $0.5, and zkSync Era experienced fees of $0.16. Gas fees on L2 platforms based on Optimism’s technology, like Base, saw the most significant reductions within 24 hours of the Dencun upgrade.
Arbitrum One, one of the most widely used L2 platforms, plans to launch an upgrade called ArbOS to introduce blob support to its rollup chains. This upgrade is expected to enhance the capabilities of Arbitrum and further reduce transaction costs. The Dencun hard fork, which introduced nine Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), included EIP-484, which introduced data blobs as a new transaction datatype for L2s. These data blobs allow for faster transactions at lower fees compared to the traditional “call data” method.
The development of Dencun took two years, and it is considered one of the most complex forks since the Merge. Scalability and low gas fees were the primary goals of this upgrade. While Dencun has helped L2s achieve lower transaction costs, experts believe it is a temporary solution and may not be sufficient to fully scale the Ethereum network.
As more L2 platforms adopt blobs and the demand for blob space increases, there is a possibility that fees on L2 chains using blobs could rise in the future. This could result in higher transaction costs and calls for further scaling solutions in the Ethereum ecosystem. Despite the potential challenges ahead, the Dencun upgrade has provided immediate relief to L2 users by significantly reducing transaction fees.
Lower fees are great, but what about the average user who can’t afford to pay anything at all? Ethereum needs to be accessible to everyone. 💸
The introduction of data blobs as a new transaction datatype for L2s is a game-changer! Faster transactions and lower fees? Count me in!
The reduction in gas fees on L2 platforms like Starknet, Optimism, and Base is a win for the entire Ethereum community! Let’s keep the positive momentum going!