Ethereum fees see $4 spike as L2 network airdrop causes congestion

• Ethereum fees surged to over $4 recently.
• This was the third time since the Ethereum upgrade that the fee surged.

Ethereum [ETH] fees saw a significant reduction after the introduction of Blobs through the Dencun upgrade. The upgrade also lowered costs across Layer 2 (L2) networks.

However, recent activity has led to a surge in Blob fees, primarily due to the airdrop of a new L2 network token.

Ethereum L2 Blob fees spike

Data from Dune Analytics indicates that Blob fees experienced a significant spike on October 22nd, climbing to over $4. This marks the third major spike since the Dencun upgrade.

The increase was linked to the airdrop for Ethereum L2 network Scroll, which distributed its governance token, SCR, to users, causing a temporary surge in activity.

Source: DuneAnalytics

Blobs were introduced with the Dencun upgrade, primarily aimed at reducing transaction costs on Ethereum’s L2 networks.

With the implementation of blobs and proto-danksharding, transaction fees on Ethereum L2s dropped considerably as more transactions were offloaded from the Ethereum mainnet to these secondary layers.

What this spike means for L2s

While the Blob fee spike was driven by temporary network congestion from the airdrop, it highlighted how events like this can still create volatility in transaction fees.

This is the third time Blob fees have surged since their introduction. Still, despite these occasional spikes, Ethereum’s L2s continue to offer lower fees compared to the mainnet.

The Dencun upgrade, which focuses on reducing costs by utilizing Blobs, has largely been successful in keeping Ethereum L2 fees low.

This recent spike is an exception, largely influenced by the heavy network activity surrounding the Scroll token airdrop.

How Ethereum fees have trended

Despite the temporary spike in Blob fees, Ethereum fees have generally remained low since the Dencun upgrade. The fees have dropped, particularly as more transactions have migrated to L2s.

Read Ethereum’s [ETH] Price Prediction 2024-25

Data from Crypto Fees indicates that the average daily fee in the past week was around $6.7 million, with the 24-hour fee at approximately $5.4 million.

While the Blob fee spike demonstrates that congestion can still occur during major network events, Ethereum’s ongoing focus on reducing costs continues to benefit users and maintain lower transaction fees overall.