Transaction Fees On Layer 2 Plummet Post Dencun

Layer 2 networks that support EIP-4844 are already enjoying massive scalability gains following the activation of Ethereum’s long-awaited Dencun upgrade on March 13.

Data from Dune Analytics shows average transaction fees on leading Layer 2 networks Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, and ZkSync Era falling by 87%, 69%, 88%, and 63% respectively in the past 48 hours.

Dune Analytics also shows the median price of swaps on Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange, plummeting 96% from $1.19 to just $0.05 following Dencun’s activation.

Hayden Adams, the creator of Uniswap, tweeted a screenshot indicating that gas fees on Uniswap v3’s Optimism deployment had dropped below $0.01.

The data showcases the resounding success of the Dencun fork and its primary upgrade, EIP-4844, also known as proto-danksharding.

EIP-4844 replaced the gas-intensive calldata with binary large objects (blob) on Layer 2. 0xVEER, the head of developer relations at Mantle, told The Defiant that calldata accounted for between 73% and 90% of Layer 2 transaction costs prior to Dencun's activation.

By contrast, blobs are a lightweight data format, driving a significant reduction in fees.

Data from GrowThePie similarly shows massive average daily fee reductions of 96% on Base, 97% on OP Mainnet, and 98% on Starknet since Dencun’s activation.

ZkSync also hosted a 49% drop in fees while Arbitrum’s fees fell 50%. However, Arbitrum only launched support for EIP-4844 on March 13, with the team noting that further gas-reducing measures will go live on March 19.

The higher relative fees on ZkSync Era may be attributable to the network’s zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup architecture, which offers performance benefits and does not require a seven-day delay on mainnet withdrawals unlike optimistic rollups such as OP Mainnet and Base.

While Starknet is also a ZK-rollup, the project said it would begin rolling out additional fee-saving measures in parallel to the Dencun upgrade. Starknet estimated the move would double the reduction in costs realized by EIP-4844, and said it would subsidize fees down to their expected level once the roll-out is complete.