Ethereum 2.0: Upcoming Upgrade Will Not Eradicate High Gas Fees (2024)

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has debunked some of the misconceptions related to the upcoming merge of the Ethereum network’s Beacon Chain, saying that gas fees would not be eradicated.

The growing anticipation of the Merge of the Ethereum network's Beacon Chain with the current Proof-of-Work (PoW) mainnet to usher in the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) version of the protocol has generated a number of misconceptions from the public.

Ethereum 2.0: Upcoming Upgrade Will Not Eradicate High Gas Fees (1)

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has come out to debunk some of these misconceptions, one of which is relative to the issue of gas fees.

The EF said the emergence of Ethereum 2.0 will not be a panacea for lower gas fees as the upgrade is a change of consensus mechanism, not an expansion of network capacity, and will not result in lower gas fees.

"Gas fees are a product of network demand relative to the network's capacity. The Merge deprecates the use of proof-of-work, transitioning to proof-of-stake for consensus, but does not significantly change any parameters that directly influence network capacity or throughput," the EF said.

The foundation said future rollup technology upgrades are projected to help taper down the high gas fees. Ethereum's co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has also supported the push of Layer-2 rollups in pushing down the higher gas fees to accepted levels.

Besides the clamour on gas fees, the misconception about the Merge ushering in faster transactions was also corrected. According to the Ethereum Foundation, while there is a slight change in the transaction speed on the Beacon Chain and the PoW network, the chances that the speed of transactions on the Layer-1 protocol will largely remain the same.

The Beacon Chain went live back in December 2020 and has been running parallel with the Ethereum mainnet since then. A lot of debugging has been done since the development of Ethereum 2.0 was made public. With so much work now being put into The Merge, the anticipation for the proposed launch is now being directed to September 15 - 19 - the tentative date.

Image source: Shutterstock

Ethereum 2.0: Upcoming Upgrade Will Not Eradicate High Gas Fees (2024)

FAQs

Will the Ethereum 2.0 update reduce high gas fees? ›

The upgrade will lower gas fees for the growing number of networks built on top of Ethereum that are known as Layer 2 (L2), or “roll-ups.” This is important since gas fees have historically soared whenever there is a surge of activity on the blockchain, making it unviable to use at a large scale.

Will Ethereum gas fees ever go down? ›

For Ethereum L2, although it is inevitable that gas fees will decrease after the upgrade, considering the intensified competition for Blob space by L2 project parties after the upgrade and the expected surge in overall L2 activity, we believe that the positive impact of the Dencun upgrade on its gas fee reduction may ...

How can Ethereum avoid high gas fees? ›

To reduce Ethereum gas fees, choose off-peak hours for transactions, batch similar transactions, use gas tokens and estimation tools, and explore Layer 2 solutions like Optimism. Whether you're an avid DeFi user, a DApp developer, or simply a casual Ethereum enthusiast, high gas fees are equally frustrating for us all.

Why is my Ethereum gas fee so high? ›

Gas fees rise and fall with supply and demand for transactions—if the network is congested, gas prices might be high. On the other hand, they could be low if there is not much traffic.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Tish Haag

Last Updated:

Views: 6627

Rating: 4.7 / 5 (67 voted)

Reviews: 82% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Tish Haag

Birthday: 1999-11-18

Address: 30256 Tara Expressway, Kutchburgh, VT 92892-0078

Phone: +4215847628708

Job: Internal Consulting Engineer

Hobby: Roller skating, Roller skating, Kayaking, Flying, Graffiti, Ghost hunting, scrapbook

Introduction: My name is Tish Haag, I am a excited, delightful, curious, beautiful, agreeable, enchanting, fancy person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.