The Ethereum ecosystem is currently experiencing a significant drop in gas fees, impacting both mainnet and Layer 2 transactions. According to Etherscan Gas Tracker, the average gas fee on the mainnet is currently at 4 Gwei, which is approximately $0.21. However, users can now process transactions for as low as 3 Gwei, or around $0.14.
This decrease in fees also extends to Ethereum’s Layer 2 solutions, such as Optimism, Base, Arbitrum, and Linea, where fees are now below $0.01 per transaction according to Gasfees.io data. Market observers attribute this fee decline to the increased adoption of Layer 2 scaling solutions and the implementation of blob transactions introduced with the Dencun hard fork in March, which has significantly reduced transaction costs on Layer 2 networks.
One of the effects of the lower gas fees is that less Ethereum is being burned, leading to the network becoming inflationary. In the last 24 hours, less than 200 ETH were burned, resulting in Ethereum’s supply experiencing a growth rate of 0.67%. Over the past 30 days, more than 60,000 ETH has been added to the network. OKX Ventures highlighted this trend, noting a 66.7% drop in the burn rate during the second quarter, impacting Ethereum’s supply-demand balance.
In addition to the decrease in gas fees, the recent approval of Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the SEC has added further complexity to the Ethereum ecosystem. Eight new spot Ethereum ETFs, including the conversion of Grayscale’s ETHE fund, have been approved for trading on US exchanges. These products attracted inflows exceeding $1 billion in the first four days of trading, although there was a roughly $1.5 billion outflow from Grayscale’s ETHE.
Despite these changes, crypto analyst Koffi believes that the Ethereum ecosystem is in a good place. He noted that the network is now more affordable for end users, with new capital flowing into the system. Overall, the current trends suggest a positive outlook for Ethereum’s future development and growth.