The Ethereum Ecosystem’s Transformation

The Ethereum ecosystem has experienced a significant reduction in gas fees, with a decrease reaching 95% in the year following the introduction of the Dencun update.

This result highlights the success of the changes made to the network to improve scalability and accessibility, lowering transaction costs on Layer-2 solutions.

Summary

• Gas fees drastically reduced after the Dencun update on Ethereum
• The price of Ether crashes by 53%
• Ethereum between innovation and market pressures

Gas Fees Drastically Reduced After the Dencun Update on Ethereum

The Dencun update, implemented on March 13, 2024, combined two important developments: Cancun, which related to the execution layer, and Deneb, focused on the consensus layer.

Furthermore, it introduced nine Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIP), improving various aspects of the network’s infrastructure. One key goal was to lower transaction fees, a historical obstacle for the large-scale adoption of the blockchain.

Data from YCharts shows that the average gas fee has dropped from 72 gwei in March 2024 to the current 2.7 gwei, making Ethereum more competitive in the cryptocurrency landscape.

Before the update, the fees for a swap on Ethereum averaged around 86 dollars, while the sale of an NFT involved average costs of 145 dollars. However, recent data from Etherscan demonstrate how costs are significantly more contained today:

• 0.39 dollars per swap
• 0.65 dollars for the sale of an NFT

This substantial reduction is promoting greater adoption of the blockchain, making it more accessible even to users with smaller budgets.

The Price of Ether Crashes by 53%

Despite the significant drop in gas fees, the value of Ether (ETH) has seen a sharp decline over the year. From March 2024 to March 2025, the price fell from 4,070 dollars to about 1,900 dollars, marking a 53% drop.

Dominik Harz, co-founder of Build on Bitcoin (BOB), commented on the situation, highlighting that Ethereum has underperformed during this period. He emphasized the need for the sector to seek a new, more sustainable and secure paradigm for decentralized finance (DeFi).

The next major network upgrade, Pectra, was recently activated on the Sepolia testnet. However, developers initially encountered error messages and empty mined blocks. Developer Marius van der Wijden clarified that once these technical issues are resolved, Pectra will bring important improvements to the Ethereum network, including:
– Increase in data space for Layer-2 solutions
– Reduction of transaction costs
– Greater execution capacity

Despite progress, Van der Wijden warned that Ethereum is losing ground as the go-to blockchain for developers. He emphasized that Pectra will not be a definitive solution, but just another step in the network’s optimization journey.

Ethereum Between Innovation and Market Pressures

Though the Dencun update has significantly improved the network’s efficiency, the collapse of the Ether price and challenges in maintaining a dominant position represent critical challenges for Ethereum. The upcoming year will be crucial to assess the overall impact of these updates and the future of the blockchain ecosystem.