A proof-of-stake blockchain was introduced 26 days ago, replacing Ethereum’s previous proof-of-work network. The fees for the upgraded network remained low after that change. However, Ethereum’s gas costs have increased this week. Data from October 10 shows that the average transaction fee was $4.75.
Ethereum’s gas charges have risen 84%, from $2.58 per transaction (October 8), to $4.75 per transfer (October 10). Since August 11, 2022 (roughly 61 days), Ethereum fees have not exceeded \$4.
According to bitinfocharts.com statistics, the median transfer fee for October 10 was $2.2 per transfer. Etherscan.io’s Gas Tracker shows an increase in today’s high priority fees, which is approximately 27 GWEI (or $0.62 per transfer).
44 days ago, or on August 28, 2022. etherscan.io’s gas tracker indicates that fees were lower before . The merger was a high priority fee of around 11 gwei (or $0.34 per transfer). Although fees for high-priority transfers are only $0.62, swapping or moving ERC20 tokens can be more expensive.
Opensea NFTs sell for \$2.13 per transaction, compared to \$1.17 per transaction August 28.
A Uniswap transaction is expected to cost around $5.49, while it was $3.03 44 days ago.
Today, sending an ERC20 token such as USDT and USDC will cost $1.61. On August 18, it was $0.89 per transaction. The fees for layer two (L2) are much lower than Ethereum’s onchain transfer statistics.
Metis Network charges \$0.01 to transfer Ethereum, and Loopring costs \$0.02. Zksync, Arbitrum and Loopring will each cost $0.03 to transfer Ethereum. Optimism will cost $0.10 per transfer.
The transaction cost for Boba network is \$0.15, while Aztec network costs \$0.25 per transfer. Depending on the L2 chosen, swapping an ERC20 can cost anywhere from $0.05 to $0.32.
Block times have been faster since The Merge, September 15. ETH charges increased. However, this was only by milliseconds. Block times pre-Merge were 0.244 minutes, while post-Merge block intervals take 0.201 minutes. This is 17% faster than September 15.
Many people believed that gas fees would be lower after The Merge. However, the Ethereum Foundation stated long before the transition that The Merge would not impact gas fees or throughput.
The Ethereum Foundation stated that “The Merge” deprecates proof-of-work and transitions to proof-of-stake for consensus. However, it does not significantly alter any parameters that directly affect network capacity or throughput.
