1) Ethereum 2.0 and the Dencun Upgrade: The transition to Ethereum 2.0, culminating in the Dencun upgrade, introduced sharding and proto-danksharding (EIP-4844). These enhancements increased transaction throughput from approximately 15 to 1,000 transactions per second, substantially reducing gas fees.
2) Layer-2 Scaling Solutions: The adoption of Layer-2 solutions like Optimistic Rollups and ZK-Rollups has offloaded transactions from the main Ethereum chain, leading to faster and more cost-effective processing. This shift has contributed to a significant decrease in gas fees.
3) EIP-1559 Implementation: The introduction of EIP-1559 restructured the fee mechanism by implementing a base fee that is burned with each transaction. This change has made gas fees more predictable and has played a role in reducing overall transaction costs .
Current Gas Fee Statistics
The average gas price dropped to 0.37–0.40 gwei, the lowest since mid-2019 .
Transaction Costs: The average cost for a token swap is now approximately $0.39, and an NFT sale averages $0.65, down from $86 and $145, respectively, a year ago .
Upcoming Enhancements
Pectra and Fusaka Upgrades: Scheduled for May and late 2025, respectively, these upgrades aim to further enhance scalability and usability. Pectra will merge the Prague execution layer with the Electra consensus layer, while Fusaka will introduce PeerDAS and the Ethereum Object Format .
These developments collectively contribute to a more efficient and cost-effective $ETH network, making it more accessible for users and developers alike.
