Despite the increase in blockchain activity on Ethereum, gas fees on the largest smart contract network remain at historically low levels, indicating a more advanced and scalable infrastructure ready for real-world applications.
Ethereum transaction fees were recorded at a historic low of just 0.16 gwei, approximately $0.01 per transaction. Fees were slightly elevated for token swaps at $0.15 and $0.27 for non-fungible token (NFT) sales, according to the blockchain data aggregator Milkroad.
These low costs sharply contrast with previous periods of high network activity, where demand often caused fees to spike, a significant criticism aimed at Ethereum in prior cycles.
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Ethereum activity grows with stable fees
Daily transactions on the network increased to 1.6 million on Tuesday, reaching a near one-month high, previously seen at the beginning of October prior to the record $19 billion liquidation event.
Active addresses also surged to similar levels, reaching a monthly high of 695,872 on Saturday, according to the crypto intelligence platform Nansen.
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Ethereum’s notably low gas fees follow the Dencun and Pectra upgrades, both aimed at reducing transaction costs and increasing throughput.
Launched in May, the Pectra upgrade has doubled the blob capacity of layer-2 (L2) networks, cutting transaction fees on L2s by about 50%. This upgrade also helped to transfer more transactions from the mainnet, further reducing costs.
Ethereum’s earlier major upgrade, Dencun, has also succeeded in lowering L2 transaction fees and channeling more transactions away from the L1, reducing average Ethereum transaction fees by 95% a year after its deployment on March 13, 2024, as reported by Cointelegraph.
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