Ethereum drops fees on arbitrage and optimism

Ethereum's recent Denkun update has significantly reduced transaction fees on various Layer 2 (L2) networks.

This milestone marks a critical time for Ethereum users, promising improved scalability and affordability in the network.

Upgrade your Ethereum wallet: lower fees, more speed

Following the update, Optimum's average fee dropped to $0.05, while Arbitrum's average fee dropped to $0.5. The average transaction fee on Base fell to $0.064, while that of zkSyncEra fell to $0.161. The average payout on Optimism fell to $0.0038, while the same costs on Base, Arbitrum and zkSyncEra fell to $0.0008, $0.3553 and $0.0936 respectively.

Denkun's update went live as planned on the Ethereum network at block height 269,568. The main purpose of this update was to improve the scalability and capacity of Ethereum to enhance the user experience. Central to Denkun's effectiveness is the Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4844 (EIP-4844) proto-danksharding feature, which is designed to ease congestion by offloading outdated data that projects can later access by hashing.

Read more: What is the Ethereum Cancun-Deneb (Dencun) update?

Users and experts expect that easing this congestion will reduce Ethereum gas fees by at least tenfold. Base, a popular Layer 2 solution, is initially expected to reduce Denkun's transaction fees by up to 100x.

EIPs improve the verifier and developer experience

In addition to significant fee reductions, Denkun's update includes several other important Ethereum EIPs. EIP-1153 streamlines data storage and makes gas payments more economical, while EIP-7516 focuses on recovering the basic charge for current transaction restrictions.

EIP-4788 and EIP-5656 enhance data access and memory replication in the Ethereum execution layer. Meanwhile, EIP-6780 introduced measures to protect users' money by stopping smart contract execution.

EIP-7044 and EIP-7514 address the management of authenticators responsible for network security. Finally, EIP-7045 extends the time that assertions are included in transaction blocks.

Read more: A closer look at the Ethereum network

Before deploying the Denkun update to the Ethereum mainnet, Ethereum developers tested various Ethereum EIPs for intensive testing. They first deployed Denku on the Goerli testnet before moving to the Sepolia testnet on January 31, 2024 and the Holseki testnet a week later. Only after intensive testing on the third testnet did it get the green light to deploy the Denkun update to the Ethereum mainnet.