The Ethereum network witnessed a significant drop in its median daily gas price on Saturday, reaching its lowest level since 2020. This development underscores the potential of Layer 2 networks in alleviating the transaction costs on the mainnet. Concurrently, Bitcoin mining revenue per hash has also neared record lows over the past two months following the recent halving event, impacting miners across the industry.
The median gas price on Ethereum’s mainnet plummeted below 3 gwei on Saturday, marking a stark contrast from the levels observed just a year ago at around 15 to 20 gwei. Notably, March 2024 saw peak gas prices, with the highest median gas price of 83 gwei recorded on March 5, as per data from @hildobby’s Dune Analytics dashboard.
The introduction of the Dencun upgrade on Ethereum in mid-March, which brought “blobs” and reduced transaction costs on Layer 2 networks, has contributed to the gradual decline in gas prices. This decline has also led to a 12-month low in Ethereum’s burn rate, resulting in a slightly inflationary state with a seven-day average supply growth of 0.56% per year, according to ultrasound.money data.
In the realm of Bitcoin mining, post the recent block reward halving event on April 20, miners have experienced record-low revenue per terahash per second (TH/s) in the last two months, as per The Block’s data dashboard. Factors contributing to this low profitability include the reduced influx of new wallets into the Bitcoin ecosystem, with the seven-day average of new Bitcoin wallets hitting its lowest level since 2018.
Despite these challenges, mining companies like CleanSpark have shown resilience, outperforming Bitcoin’s price year-to-date. Similarly, Bitfarms and Core Scientific have also surpassed Bitcoin’s price performance, while smaller mining firms have faced tougher conditions.
Furthermore, former U.S. President Donald Trump has engaged with representatives from the Bitcoin mining industry, expressing support for miners in the event of a victory in the upcoming Presidential election in November.