A fresh airdrop on the Ethereum layer-2 network, Scroll, just triggered a surge in blob fees, briefly sending them skyrocketing to $4.52 on October 22. It’s only the third time since the March Dencun upgrade that blobs have become this costly, shaking up the network. The culprit? A flood of users racing to claim Scroll’s new governance token, SCR, listed on Binance the same day.
Crypto data analyst Hildobby tweeted, “Scroll airdrop claimers just triggered the blob market, they’re no longer free.” The sudden jump in blob fees was directly linked to the spike in airdrop activity. Data from Dune Analytics confirmed the fees hit a four-month high, marking a notable uptick that’s been seen only twice before—once in July due to Layer-2 (L2) action, and earlier in March with the launch of Blobscriptions, a protocol that allows direct data inscription onto blobs.
The Blob Fee Conundrum: Costly but Lucrative?
Blobs, introduced in Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade, were supposed to bring efficiency and lower transaction costs, especially on L2 networks. But when these fees spike, it’s a double-edged sword. Higher blob fees funnel more blob gas back into Ethereum’s network, which sounds good on paper. But it also means users are paying more to run transactions on Ethereum’s L2s.
After the Scroll airdrop fever cooled down, blob fees quickly retraced to near zero as L2 activity slowed, bringing temporary relief. But the whole scenario serves as a reminder of the fragility of Ethereum’s scalability when it comes to blobs. Just a few weeks ago, Vitalik Buterin warned on X about the “blob count” nearing full capacity, a situation that could hinder Ethereum’s scaling if left unchecked.
EIP-7742 to the Rescue? New Fixes Incoming
In response to the rising pressure on blobs, Ethereum developers rolled out a new proposal—EIP-7742. Announced just days before the Scroll airdrop mayhem, this proposal aims to dynamically adjust blob gas targets, optimizing transactions while improving scalability. Christine Kim from Galaxy Digital Research said it’ll boost network efficiency during the Pectra fork.
But for now, the Scroll airdrop shows the game isn’t over yet.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.