Ethereum blob fees rise amid Scroll airdrop claims

A sudden surge in airdrop claims for Scroll (CRYPTO:SCR), a new Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) layer-2 network, briefly pushed Ethereum’s blob fees to $4.52 on October 22. 

This spike, attributed to Scroll’s governance token airdrop and its listing on Binance, marked the third significant increase in blob costs since Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade in March. 

Pseudonymous crypto analyst Hildobby commented, “Scroll airdrop claimers just triggered the blob market, they’re no longer free.”

Data from Dune Analytics revealed that blob fees hit a four-month peak, highlighting that this isn’t the first time such spikes have occurred. 

Previous increases were seen in March with the launch of the Blobscriptions protocol and again in July due to heightened activity across Ethereum layer-2 networks. 

While higher blob fees benefit the Ethereum network through increased gas revenues, they also raise transaction costs for Ethereum L2s, posing challenges for scaling efforts.

The spike in blob fees subsided quickly as the rush of activity on L2s tapered off, and the costs dropped back to near-zero levels. 

The fee volatility underscores ongoing concerns about Ethereum’s scalability, which co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned about on September 27. 

He noted that the “blob count”—the number of available blobs per block—was reaching its limit, which could hinder Ethereum’s scalability if left unaddressed.

To tackle this issue, Ethereum developers introduced a new Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP-7742) on October 18. 

According to Christine Kim, Vice President of Research at Galaxy Digital, EIP-7742 aims to create a mechanism within the consensus layer that would dynamically adjust the blob gas target and maximum values, optimising the network’s scalability in the upcoming Pectra fork.

Blobs, which were introduced during the Dencun upgrade, aimed to lower costs on Ethereum L2s. 

The upgrade helped reduce transaction fees across L2s, with swap fees on Arbitrum (CRYPTO:ARB) dropping from $1.25 to under $0.02, and similar reductions seen on Polygon (CRYPTO:MATIC). 

This improvement showcased the cost-efficiency of blobs, as demonstrated by Ethereum developer Dan Cline, who inscribed the entire Bee Movie script onto the mainnet for just $14.

At the time of writing, the Ethereum price was $2,611.26, and the Scroll price was $1.08.