Ethereum has seen phenomenal growth, while its decentralized finance (DeFi) functionalities make it a leading blockchain.
Nevertheless, the charges of being an ETH user have challenged some to use the chain. That triggered the launch of cheaper L1s and layer2 chains. However, can Ether’s latest fee decline shift the tides yet again?
Ethereum Ready to Outshine Polygon
Though Polygon might never defeat the 2nd-largest blockchain globally in use cases, Ethereum cannot surpass Polygon as far as operating costs are concerned. ETH’s gas fees declined to the lowest level in more than two years, with the average transaction cost plunging to 0.77 Ether, a level never seen since October 2020.
While publishing this post, the ETH fee tracking page shows the chain’s transaction base fee averaging between 7 and 8 Gwei. Contrarily, DEX and NFT transaction charges hovered at $1.52 – $4 during this publication.
On the other hand, Polygon’s fees stood between 40 and 66 Gwei today. It also peaked at around 100 Gwei at some time on the day. Nevertheless, Polygon remains well cheaper than ETH. That’s due to gas fees calculation with Ethereum’s calculated in ETH, whereas Polygon goes with MATIC.
Therefore, transferring a unit of the native token, even with the 7 Gwei low transaction costs, can mean paying up to $0.62. Meanwhile, Polygon’s 66 Gwei will cost $0.000358 only. Moreover, the network’s finality time is critical in swaying investor opinions.
Polygon allows individuals to complete transactions within 2.3 seconds. On the other hand, Ethereum finalized six transactions only within a minute. Ethereum will never outshine Polygon’s fees regardless of its lower base fee.
Meanwhile, the crypto market noted declines after the latest impressive surge. While publishing this content, the overall digital assets value stood at $910.07 billion, reflecting a 3.59% slump within 24 hours. That reflects slides by leading cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin has returned to sub-$20K after approaching the hurdle of $22K. While writing these lines, BTC traded at $20,401.15, dropping 0.56% over the past day. Also, ETH lost 0.66% to $1.139.93.
Stay tuned for upcoming developments.