Ethereum’s newest inscription method, called “BlobScriptions,” is triggering a massive surge in blob fees. BlobScriptions was created on March 27 by a protocol called Ethscriptions, to facilitate users inscribe data from JPEGs to text directly onto “blobs,” which were part of Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade on March 13. However, on-chain data showed that the gas fees for Blobs skyrocketed to 585 gwei, equivalent to roughly $18, less than a few hours after the release of BlobScriptions.
Before, the average gas price for minting data on a blob was around one wei, equivalent to a tiny fraction of $0.01. Community members have raised why anyone would choose to record or store data on blobs, as these are temporary data packets.
I thought the point of blobs was to provide *temporary* call data storage just long enough to allow fraud proofs to verify the state root being posted on chain. If the “blobscriptions” don’t change any state and store everything in the call data. It doesn’t make sense to store that call data in a temporary place unless its also being indexed off chain in a centralized manner.
According to experts, Blobs may persist and remain accessible for longer periods than initially anticipated, potentially due to the nature of blockchain technology or other factors. This highlights the practical considerations and complexities involved in designing and managing decentralized systems.
Ethereum L-2 To Hike Gas Fees By 50%
Since the launch of EIP-4844, commonly called proto-danksharding, Ethereum layer-2 solutions like Base have posted a 5x increase in demand, driving fees back up. Gas fees skyrocketed by a staggering 2000% on March 20, reaching an average of $2 during periods of intense network congestion.
Although fees swiftly returned to their usual $0.2 level as activity levels subsided, they surged once more over the weekend, reaching $1.9—an 1100% increase. To reduce fees and scale, Base Contributors has planned to increase the gas target by 50% [to 3.75 mgas/s] soon and then to 5 mgas/s following an observation period, targeting early next week.