The Ethereum ecosystem has experienced a significant reduction in gas fees, with a decrease reaching
The Ethereum ecosystem has experienced a significant reduction in gas fees, with a decrease reaching 95% in the year following the introduction of the Dencun update.
This result highlights the success of the changes made to the network to improve scalability and accessibility, lowering transaction costs on Layer-2solutions.
Summary
Gas fees drastically reduced after the Dencun update on Ethereum
The Dencun update, implemented on March 13, 2024, combined two important developments: Cancun, related to the execution layer, and Deneb, focused on the consensus layer.
Furthermore, it introduced nine Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIP), which improved various aspects of the networks infrastructure.
One of the main goals of the update was to lower transaction fees, a historical obstacle for the large-scale adoption of the blockchain.
The data from YChartsshows that the average gas feehas dropped from 72 gweiin March 2024 to the current 2.7 gwei, a change that has made Ethereum more competitive in the cryptocurrency landscape.
Before the update, the fees for a swap on Ethereumaveraged around 86 dollars, while the sale of an NFTinvolved average costs of 145 dollars.
However, the most recent data from Etherscandemonstrate how the costs are significantly more containedtoday:
This substantialreduction is promoting greater adoption of the blockchain, making it more accessible even to users with smaller budgets.
The price of Ether crashes by 53%
Despite the significant drop in gas fees, the value of Ether (ETH) has experienced a sharp decline over the course of the year. From March 2024 to March 2025, the price fell from 4,070 dollarsto about 1,900 dollars, marking a 53% drop.
Dominik Harz, co-founder of Build on Bitcoin (BOB), commented on the situation by highlighting how Ethereum has underperformedduring this period.
It highlighted that between the explosionof memecoins on Solanaand the market volatility, the sector is seeking a new, more sustainable and secure paradigmfor decentralized finance (DeFi).
The next major network upgrade, Pectra, was recently activated on the Sepoliatestnet. However, the developers initially encountered error messagesand empty mined blocks.
The developer Marius van der Wijdenclarified that, once these technical issues are resolved, Pectra will bring important improvementsto the Ethereum network. In particular:
Despite the progress, Van der Wijden warned that Ethereum is losing groundas the go-to blockchain for developers. He emphasized that Pectra will not be a definitive solution, but just another step in the networks optimization journey.
Ethereum between innovation and market pressures
Although the Dencun update has significantly improved the networks efficiency, the collapse of the Ether priceand the difficulties in maintaining a dominant position represent criticalchallenges for Ethereum.
The next year will be crucial to assess the overall impact of these updates and the future of the blockchain ecosystem.
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