The Ethereum network’s Dencun upgrade, which was activated on Wednesday, has introduced an innovative mechanism aimed at lowering transaction costs associated with layer 2 scaling solutions. These solutions, which batch and compress transactions before forwarding them to the mainnet, have seen a noticeable reduction in fees as a result of the upgrade.
Blockchain analyst Marcov, utilizing a Dune-based tracker, has reported that the average transaction cost on the Optimism scaling solution has decreased dramatically to about 4 cents, a significant drop from the prior average of $1.4.
Similarly, transaction fees on Coinbase’s layer 2 solution Base have fallen to 3 cents from approximately $1.50. Arbitrum’s fees have also seen a decrease to 40 cents. Additionally, fees on other platforms such as zkSync and Zora have experienced reductions.
The Dencun upgrade has introduced Binary Large Objects (blobs), enabling the attachment of large data chunks to standard transactions. Unlike call data, which is stored indefinitely, blobs store data off-chain and become inaccessible after three weeks.
This feature allows layer 2 rollups like Optimism, Arbitrum, and zkSync to store data in blobs rather than in more costly call data, facilitating transactions at reduced costs. Rollups process transactions outside the Ethereum main chain, bundling multiple transactions into a single submission to the main chain.
It’s important to note that the integration of blobs requires manual implementation by rollups. To date, Base, Optimism, Arbitrum, Zora, and zkSync have adopted this technology, according to Marcov. Data from L2Beat indicates that Ethereum hosts over 40 rollups, with 26 being in the pipeline for launch.
Experts predict that the blob mechanism could ultimately lead to a 90% reduction in transaction costs on layer 2 solutions.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has highlighted that 125 kb of call data approximately costs 0.06 ETH ($238), whereas a blob of similar size would likely cost around 0.001 ETH ($3.98), based on estimates from the decentralized prediction platform Polymarket.
Despite the Dencun upgrade’s success in reducing transaction fees, there has yet to be a noticeable increase in investor interest in the native tokens of rollups, which are expected to benefit most from the introduction of blob-carrying transactions.
As of the latest reports, Optimism’s OP token has seen a decrease of 4.6% trading at $4.30, and Arbitrum’s ARB token is down by 6%, trading at $2.07 on a 24-hour basis, according to CMC data.