Analysis of the Blob Market After the Ethereum Pectra Upgrade

On May 7, 2025, the Ethereum mainnet completed the Pectra upgrade, which included an increase in the target and maximum blob count per block. This improvement stems from the EIP-7691 proposal, aimed at providing more data publishing space for rollups. After the upgrade, the target blob count per block increased from 3 to 6, while the maximum value rose from 6 to 9. This change increased the daily data capacity provided by blobs on the network from approximately 5.5GB to around 8.15GB.

Blob market changes

In the five complete trading days after the Pectra upgrade, the average number of blobs purchased daily through rollup increased from 21,200 to 25,600, an increase of 20.8%. However, the actual usage is still below the newly set target value, averaging only two-thirds of the target.

This has led to a significant decrease in blob prices, nearly approaching zero. Since the upgrade, the median price per blob has only been $0.00000000035. The fees paid by rollup for blobs each day are less than one thousandth of a cent, with a cumulative payment of only four thousandths of a cent. In contrast, in the 60 days prior to Pectra, rollup paid an average of $16,250 per day in blob fees, totaling approximately $1.095 million.

impact on Ethereum nodes

Despite the increase in the number of blobs purchased by rollups, the usage rate has actually decreased relative to the new target capacity. Currently, about 3.3GB of data space is being purchased daily, which is equivalent to 40% of the daily maximum capacity and 61% of the target capacity.

The increase in blob data has put greater storage pressure on consensus layer nodes. Nodes need to retain this data for at least 18 days before it can be deleted. As of May 12, the amount of data that nodes need to retain has reached a historical high of 44.6GB. If current demand continues, it is expected that nodes may need to store approximately 60GB of rollup data; if the target utilization rate is reached, this figure could rise to between 95GB and 100GB.

###'s impact on Rollup

After the Pectra upgrade, the costs related to rollup blobs (including blob objects and type-3 execution layer transaction fees) decreased by an average of 51% per day, from $20,660 to $11,015. However, due to Ethereum L1 fees rising by over 650% within a week after the upgrade, part of the decrease in blob costs was offset.

Most rollups have seen an increase in profit margins after deducting on-chain costs. The seven-day moving average profit margins for Linea and Base reached 98.86% and 98.54%, respectively. Blast showed the most significant improvement, rising from just over 50% to over 80%.

In terms of net income, each rollup has at least doubled. Base performed the best, generating $1.22 million under current market conditions, with a net gain of $1.12 million after deducting on-chain costs.

Summary

The upgrade of Pectra to rollup has provided a more favorable financial environment, while also increasing the daily usage of blobs. However, rollup has not yet fully utilized the newly available data availability space. This upgrade has also placed greater data storage pressure on Ethereum node operators, and this challenge may further intensify with the expansion of blob DA.