Ethereum Upgrade to Cut Layer-2 Fees, Lowering Costs for Users

Ethereum's upcoming Dencun upgrade will reduce costs for layer-2 networks like Polygon, Arbitrum, and Starknet to store data on the main Ethereum blockchain. This is expected to lower transaction fees for users.

The upgrade introduces "data blobs" which give layer-2s a separate place to temporarily store data instead of taking up space on the main blockchain.

Polygon, Arbitrum, Starknet, and Base developers predict fees could drop significantly thanks to lower data storage costs, but the exact amount is still unclear.

Base predicts fees could fall by 90-95% if demand stays the same, but increased usage may offset some of those savings. Base hopes for "sub-cent" transaction fees.

The fee reductions may benefit zero-knowledge rollups more than optimistic rollups because their data storage costs are already extremely low.