Ethereum proposes the improvement EIP-7999 to simplify the transaction fee structure.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and developer Anders Elowsson have just introduced the proposal EIP-7999, aimed at simplifying the way transaction fees are calculated on the Ethereum network.

Announced on Tuesday, EIP-7999 aims to build a unified multi-dimensional fee market, allowing users to set a maximum aggregated fee for different types of resources when making transactions. If approved, this proposal will eliminate the complexity of estimating and managing multiple fee components, making it easier for users to predict and pay transaction costs.

In summary of the objectives of EIP-7999, the authors stated: "This proposal aims to simplify fee management by allowing users to specify just a single maximum fee, thereby enhancing capital efficiency and improving the user experience."

The proposal is currently under discussion and evaluation within the community before being considered for implementation.

The Long-standing Gas Fee Problem of Ethereum

The issue of high gas fees has plagued Ethereum since 2017, when the explosion of decentralized applications (DApp) and ICOs overloaded the network, causing transaction costs to soar.

This situation became more serious in 2021, during the DeFi and NFT boom, when the average gas fee often exceeded 50 USD per transaction.

Ethereum subsequently implemented the EIP-1559 upgrade in August 2021, introducing a basic fee burning mechanism to stabilize costs. Although it helps alleviate spikes, during network congestion periods, gas fees still fluctuate significantly and pose challenges for users.

To alleviate the load, Layer 2 solutions such as Optimism and Arbitrum have started to develop strongly, handling off-chain transactions to reduce costs. However, fees on the Ethereum mainnet remain a bottleneck, prompting the community to continue improving, culminating in the Dencun upgrade in March 2024.

The Impact of Dencun: Fees Drop Sharply but Rivals Also Rise

Launched on March 13, 2024, the Dencun upgrade has introduced 9 new EIP proposals into the Ethereum network aimed at improving scalability and reducing transaction costs, especially for Layer 2 solutions.

In just one year, according to data from Etherscan, the average gas fee for popular transactions has decreased by up to 95%, from around 86 USD down to just 0.39 USD. Meanwhile, the price of the ETH token has dropped by more than 50%, reflecting the overall volatile market conditions.

Nevertheless, Ethereum remains the blockchain generating the highest transaction fee revenue in 2024, reaching 2.48 billion USD – an increase of 3% compared to the previous year. However, this revenue has become more volatile after the Dencun upgrade, while competitors are growing stronger.

In the same year, fee revenue from the Tron network doubled to 2.15 billion USD due to a strong increase in stablecoin transactions, while fees from Solana surged by 2,838%, reaching 750 million USD, thanks to a boom in network activity.

Total revenue of the Ethereum network in 365 days | Source: Token TerminalAccording to the latest data from Token Terminal, the total revenue from transaction fees of Ethereum over the past 365 days has reached 757.4 million USD.

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