Network activity on Ethereum reached 1.6 million daily transactions on Tuesday, marking a near one-month high, last observed before October's market crash that triggered $19 billion in liquidations. Transaction fees remained at historic lows throughout the surge, demonstrating the network's enhanced scalability following recent protocol upgrades.
Transaction Costs and Network Performance
Gas fees averaged just 0.16 gwei, translating to approximately $0.01 per transaction, according to blockchain data aggregator Milkroad. Token swaps cost slightly more at $0.15, while non-fungible token sales averaged $0.27 in transaction fees.
Active addresses on the network peaked at 695,872 on Saturday, reaching monthly highs according to crypto intelligence platform Nansen. The increased activity occurred without the fee spikes that characterized previous periods of high network demand, which represented one of Ethereum's biggest criticisms in past cycles.
Impact of Protocol Upgrades
The Pectra upgrade deployed in May has doubled blob capacity for layer-2 networks, reducing L2 transaction fees by approximately 50%. The upgrade offloads more transactions from the mainnet to further reduce costs across the Ethereum ecosystem.
Dencun, Ethereum’s previous major upgrade deployed on March 13, 2024, managed to cut layer-2 transaction fees while offloading additional transactions from the L1. Average Ethereum transaction fees decreased by 95% in the year following Dencun's implementation, according to reports.
Scalability and Future Adoption
The low costs contrast sharply with previous high-activity periods when demand frequently sent fees soaring. The stable fee environment during peak activity signals a more mature and scalable infrastructure ready for advanced real-world use cases.
Both protocol upgrades were specifically designed to lower transaction costs and expand network throughput. The combination of Dencun and Pectra has transformed Ethereum's cost structure, enabling the network to handle significantly higher transaction volumes without proportional increases in user fees.
The network's ability to maintain sub-dollar transaction costs while processing 1.6 million daily transactions demonstrates the effectiveness of Ethereum's scaling solutions. This development addresses long-standing concerns about network accessibility and positions Ethereum for broader adoption across decentralized applications and DeFi protocols.