Ethereum layer-2 fees hit a record low following the latest data upgrade
Median transaction costs on major rollups fell below a cent as expanded blob capacity landed on mainnet, reshaping the economics of on-chain applications.
By Nadia Okonjo · Editor in chief · Jul 31, 2026 · 6 min read
Median fees across the largest Ethereum rollups fell to record lows this week after expanded data availability capacity activated on mainnet, cutting the single largest cost input for layer-2 sequencers.
The change lowers the price rollups pay to post compressed transaction data back to Ethereum. Several networks passed the savings directly to users within hours of the fork.
Application developers say sub-cent settlement changes what is viable on-chain, from micro-payments to high-frequency game state, categories that were priced out during previous congestion cycles.
The open question is validator economics. With less fee revenue accruing to the base layer, researchers are debating whether long-run issuance assumptions still hold under sustained low-demand conditions.