The Merge could see the complete transition of Ethereum’s proof-of work (PoW), to its proof-of–stake (PoS), in 43 days. Meanwhile, during the last 38 days, Ethereum’s layer one (L1) onchain transaction fees have dropped below the $5 mark and tumbled even lower by the end of July. The average Ethereum network fee at the moment is 0.0986 Ethereum or $1.46 per transaction. The median fees for transfers are lower, with statistics showing that transfer fees range from $0.21 to $0.576 per transaction Sunday morning (EST).
Ethereum Gas Costs Remain at the Lowest Rates Since December 2020, Ether Transfers Top Opensea’s Burn Rate
The Ethereum network fees have been lower than ever for a long time. In fact, today’s average Ethereum network fee is 0.00086 ether or $1.46 per transfer, a low not seen since December 12, 2020.
A gas fee, which is basically the amount of ethereum required to transfer data ontochain, is the cost to push ETH. It is less than fees associated with the transfer and interaction with smart contracts and ERC20 tokens.
While the average Ethereum network fee is around $1.46 per transfer today, statistics from etherscan.io’s Gas Tracker indicate that gas fees are between 5 to 6 qwei per transfer or $0.21 to $0.32. Opensea transactions can cost $0.73-$1.10 each, with decentralized exchange swaps (dex) costs ranging from $1.88-2.82 per transfer.
The transfer costs to push an ERC20 token such as USDT or USDC is around $0.55-$0.83 per transaction on Sunday morning (EST). Data from bitinfocharts.com shows Sunday’s median-sized fees are 0.00034 ether or $0.576 per transaction. Ethereum transfers play a major role in the cryptocurrency burning that results from Ethereum Improvement Proposal (1559)
Opensea once contributed the most to 2,573,837 (ETH) of ether that has been destroyed. Ethereum transfers, which have 232.233 ETH, are the main contributors to the destruction of ether. As ETH’s supply growth jumps by 5.5 million per year, EIP-1559’s deflationary burn mechanism destroys around 0.2 million ether annually.
Since EIP-1559’s inception, traditional ethereum transactions equaled approximately 156,422,214 transactions and roughly 649.79 ether was destroyed during the last 24 hours from ETH transactions and a variety of other types of data transfers.
Lower L2 fees for Ethereum transfer alternatives
Layer two transactions (L2) fees are cheaper via L2 than through L1. Loopring and Zksync are the most affordable L2 options at the time this article was written. Zksync fees range from $0.01 to $0.02 per transaction. Loopring fees can be as low as 0.01 cents per transaction. This L2 platform can make it more expensive to swap tokens. Zksync fees cost $0.02 per transaction, and Loopring swapping costs are higher at $0.42 each.
Arbitrum One transfers can be as low as $0.05 and Optimism L2 gas prices are around $0.03. To swap via Optimism’s platform, estimates show it could cost a user $0.05, while Arbitrum swaps are estimated to be around $0.08 today. Also, L2 fees will be cheaper for Metis, Boba and Aztec networks as well as Polygon Hermez on August 7.
Do you agree with Ethereum network fees staying at the lowest gas prices since December 2020, or are they too high? Comment below to share your thoughts.
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