Thomas Daniels
Despite a sharp drop in on-chain activity and the lowest transaction costs in over four years, Ethereum still leads the market in overall gas fees, especially in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.
Data from analytics platform Growthepie shows that, with the exception of social apps, Ethereum’s Layer 1 blockchain continues to lead in the amount of gas fees ever generated across a variety of industries, including gaming, banking, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
DeFi Dominance of Ethereum in Gas Fees
Ethereum has accumulated more than $1.68 billion in total gas costs in the DeFi space alone, more than any other competitive blockchain in any timeframe, be it weekly, monthly, three-month, or all-time. This demonstrates Ethereum’s persistent leadership in DeFi adoption, despite the availability of less expensive competitors due to Layer 2 scaling solutions.
On-Chain Activity Is Declining Despite Lower Fees
Ethereum continues to lead in the accumulation of gas fees, although overall on-chain activity is declining. The decrease in transaction costs may be the result of a drop in demand for Ethereum transactions rather than an increase in network efficiency.
On February 18, the Ethereum on-chain volume’s 7-day moving average (7DMA) dropped to about $3.77 billion, the lowest daily volume since November 2024. Despite the record low transaction costs, this points to a cooling trend in Ethereum’s network activity.
