In brief
Following Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade, costs associated with blob transactions plummeted from approximately $16,000 per day to mere fractions of a cent, significantly reducing operational expenses for layer-2 networks. While the adoption of blobs has risen by 33%, rollups have yet to fully capitalize on the increased capacity. The lower costs tied to blobs are compelling smaller validators to amalgamate with larger entities. A month post-upgrade, critical metrics on the Ethereum network are beginning to showcase both the advantages and challenges stemming from its most ambitious technical enhancement since the 2022 “merge.”
### Understanding Blobs and Their Impact on Ethereum
One of the standout features of the Pectra upgrade was its enhancement of Ethereum’s capability to manage “blobs,” which are essentially segments of short-term data storage. This development allows for a greater volume of data to be maintained on the consensus layer, as per the definition provided by the Protocol development team. A blob serves as a specific data structure that can accommodate larger data quantities, and an increase in blobs means that transaction costs, as well as expenses for layer-2 networks and rollup functions, can be further reduced. “The near-zero cost of blobs has unlocked significant scalability for Ethereum,” stated Ulyana Skladchikova, product head at the open-source multi-chain explorer Blockscout, during an interview with Decrypt. She further noted that this feature has made it more economical for layer-2 solutions to transmit data, enabling low-cost, high-throughput rollups to thrive.
### Significant Cost Reductions for Rollups
In the week following the Pectra upgrade, rollups such as Base and Arbitrum benefitted from transaction costs that dropped to less than a fraction of a penny on a daily basis. “Blobs are virtually free again, marking the first instance since mid-April 2025,” reported Zack Pokorny, a research analyst at digital asset firm Galaxy, in a report dated May 15. Since the implementation of Pectra, the daily cost for blobs had only reached “four-thousandths of a penny,” a stark contrast to the $16,000 daily costs before the upgrade, according to data from their Dune dashboard. The driving force behind this reduction was EIP-7691, which introduced blob scaling as part of the Pectra update. Following its activation, blob utilization surged by approximately 20%, with daily purchases hitting 25,600. However, despite this rise, rollups are still not fully leveraging the newly expanded capacity, leading to a significant decrease in blob prices, as explained by Pokorny. By the end of May, blob usage had climbed to around 28,000, indicating a 33% increase since the Pectra upgrade’s launch, according to aggregated data from crypto intelligence firm Coin Metrics.
### Challenges Faced by Validators Amid Cost Improvements
While the decline in blob costs has boosted profit margins for rollups, it has also created new challenges for validators. The improvements in blob costs have inadvertently heightened the “data burden on validators,” Skladchikova noted. She suggested that this situation represents a trade-off. Validators are individuals or organizations that contribute to Ethereum’s security and transaction processing by staking a portion of their ETH. In return, they earn ETH rewards. However, validators risk losing some of their staked ETH if their validating hardware frequently goes offline or fails to adhere to the network’s rules. The increased data processing costs could pose a financial strain on smaller validators, prompting them to merge with larger operations capable of managing both the heightened stake requirements and the growing data storage demands. “Validator consolidation often raises concerns about centralization,” Skladchikova observed, “but in the case of Ethereum, this effect may actually promote decentralization.”
The price of Ethereum experienced a notable surge in May, rising from approximately $1,800 at the beginning of the month to a peak near $2,800. Even after a slight decrease to around $2,510, ETH remains up 27% over the past month.
