Ethereum (ETH): Criticized for its astronomical gas fees

The Ethereum Merge is expected to reduce the energy consumption of the most attractive blockchain of 2022 by 99.5%, but it will not decrease average transaction fees. This has disappointed many users. We are currently seeing a wave of migrations to chains compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

BNB Chain, Polygon, and others better than Ethereum

The Merge was a resounding success for Ethereum last September. Coupled with the April 12th hard fork Shanghai (also known as Shapella), this transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake has made Vitalik Buterin’s blockchain one of the most powerful and energy-efficient networks of the moment.

But a recent article by The Block sheds light on a decline in user interest in Ethereum. Observers have noticed a historical record of usage of blockchains compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine last week.

In other words, users have dropped Ethereum in favor of other EVM-compatible blockchains like Avalanche, Polygon, and BNB Chain.

Ethereum gas fees are up significantly since the start of the year, leading to growth in EVM-compatible chains. EVM-compatible chains provide a consistent experience for users and developers familiar with Ethereum. Growth in these chains can be a proxy for interest in an Ethereum-like user experience on-chain.

Kevin Peng, an analyst at The Block Research.

To give you an idea of the damage, here are some figures:

• BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Polygon have accumulated a total of 6.77 million daily unique addresses; 
• and a record of 6.74 million was reported in 2021.

More forgiving hot blockchains

Kevin Peng highlighted that the surge in Ethereum’s gas fees is discouraging users. It is said to have increased by 250% since the beginning of the year. In December last year, it cost about $2.5 for a transaction. Currently, the average transaction fee for Ethereum stands at $9.

Elsewhere, on BNB Chain and Polygon, gas fees are more attractive. On BNB Chain, for example, the average cost of a transaction is set between 3 and 5 gwei. The Binance website noted that 3 gwei is about $0.02.

If you subtract the $9 for Ethereum, you will have a clear difference of $8.98.

We must also not forget that EVM-compatible chains continue to innovate. BNB Chain, which just succeeded with its Planck hard fork in April, became more attractive for its innovative solutions such as gasless transactions, meta transactions, relay contracts, etc.