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Ethereum Forum / DenCun upgrade was successful, you choose Ethereum Layer-1 or Layer-2?
« on: March 15, 2024, 03:19:15 AM »
Breaking the trend of delays, the Ethereum Foundation finally delivered the DenCun upgrade on schedule in Q1 of 2024. As promised, the Dencun upgrade brings significantly lower transaction costs for users of Layer-2 scaling solutions. Transaction fees on Ethereum Layer-2 solutions like Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, zkSync, and Zora... have dropped significantly to just a few cents per transaction [1]. This translates to a much more user-friendly experience for anyone interacting with dApps built on these Layer-2 solutions, potentially making Ethereum dApps much more accessible to a wider audience.
Although there are still some limitations in terms of decentralization and security on Layer-2 [2], I believe that DenCun will have a positive impact on the development of the Ethereum ecosystem in the long term. I also often choose Optimism to transfer my ETH, however, I recognize a few problems:
I myself will continue to prioritize using Layer-2 while waiting for new scaling solutions for Ethereum Layer-1 in the future.
I want to know your opinion on Ethereum Layer-2:
References:
[1] Layer 2 Blockchains Become Cheaper After Ethereum's Dencun Upgrade
[2] Debating Dencun: Will Ethereum's Big Update Help or Harm the Network?
[3] Optimism Mainnet - L2 Gas Price Tracker
[4] Coinmarketcap: Top Cryptocurrency Decentralized Exchanges
Note:
Although there are still some limitations in terms of decentralization and security on Layer-2 [2], I believe that DenCun will have a positive impact on the development of the Ethereum ecosystem in the long term. I also often choose Optimism to transfer my ETH, however, I recognize a few problems:
- While the Dencun upgrade directly benefits users, it hasn't yet translated into a surge for the native tokens of these Layer-2 solutions. For example, the price of native tokens like ARB and OP has not seen any significant fluctuations. This could be because the good news about DenCun was already priced in before the event took place, or because investors are still being cautious and are putting their money into ETH tokens.
- Transaction fees on Ethereum Layer-1 are still very expensive, about 1000 times higher than the transaction fees on Layer-2 [3]. This means that users are still actively using Ethereum instead of switching to the Layer-2 experience. Data on Coinmarketcap shows that in the past 24 hours, the trading volume on Ethereum was $3.25B, on Arbitrum was $1.1B, on Optimism was $128M, on Base was $155M [4]. This proves that users still continue to trust and choose to trade on Ethereum instead of coming to Layer-2 solutions. Low transaction fees are not the top priority for users and investors, because people come to the market to find opportunities and profits, not just to save on transaction fees.
I myself will continue to prioritize using Layer-2 while waiting for new scaling solutions for Ethereum Layer-1 in the future.
I want to know your opinion on Ethereum Layer-2:
- Are you using Ethereum Layer-2? Which one?
- Do you trust Ethereum Layer-2 solutions?
- Would you choose to invest in Layer-2 native tokens such as ARB and OP instead of ETH?
References:
[1] Layer 2 Blockchains Become Cheaper After Ethereum's Dencun Upgrade
[2] Debating Dencun: Will Ethereum's Big Update Help or Harm the Network?
[3] Optimism Mainnet - L2 Gas Price Tracker
[4] Coinmarketcap: Top Cryptocurrency Decentralized Exchanges
Note:
- My opinion was posted first in that topic, on Bitcointalk
- I leave the source link to avoid plagiarism accusation.
- I excluded/ included minor things from an original thread if necessary.