Pectra Mainnet Launch: Overview of Ethereum Blob Usage

Source: Avail; Compiled by AIMan@Golden Finance

This is the largest upgrade since the Dencun launch of Ethereum 420 days ago, and these changes will improve the way Ethereum handles data released from L2, as well as other changes included in the upgrade.

The Pectra upgrade to use Ethereum's Layer 2 data availability introduced two key changes. It increased blob throughput and raised the cost of call data. We analyzed the usage of Ethereum blobs since the Dencun (EIP-4844) to understand the potential impact of the Pectra upgrade on the blob market.

Blob Utilization Rate

Since November 2024, the number of blobs has been hovering around the target of 3 blobs per block (100% utilization). Although the cap is 6, the price for submitting blobs increases when more than 3 blobs are submitted, similar to how Ethereum fees rise under peak load. The purpose of this is to provide additional capacity when needed while maintaining the target of 3 blobs per block.

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With the launch of the Pectra mainnet, we can expect an increase in utilization, moving towards the new goal of 6 blobs per block, with the upper limit rising to 9.

After the Dencun upgrade, Ethereum blobs took about 8 months to reach full capacity. Vitalik Buterin warned in September 2024 (just six months after the Dencun upgrade) that blob space was approximately 75% utilized and "close to the limit." He also stated, "There is no doubt that multiple Layer 2 nodes considered migrating to blobs but ultimately decided against it," mainly due to the fact that there isn't enough space on Ethereum to accommodate them at the current capacity.

Source: https://github.com/ethereum/pm/issues/1153

During peak load, Blob fees occasionally spike above call data fees. One month after the Dencun upgrade, with the rise of Blob subscriptions, Blob base fees also soared. Subsequently, with the implementation of the Arbitrum LayerZero airdrop, Arbitrum's transaction volume increased, and Blob base fees surged again in June. This time, the data submitted by the L2 nodes was Blob instead of call data, resulting in an overpayment of about $550,000.

Although L2 can implement some strategies, such as switching to call data when fees rise, slowing down batch submission speeds, paying more fees to include its blob, or simply halting data publication until fees stabilize, the fact is that L2 still needs more capacity when demand surges.

So, which protocols are consuming all the Blobs?

The chart below shows the number of Blobs released weekly, broken down by Blob submitters (L2). Please note that each line in the chart below represents the number of Blobs released within a week.

Source of information:

Through quick calculations on a napkin, we find that approximately 150,000 blobs are available each week, with a target rate of 3 blobs per block. This has now increased to about 300,000 blobs per week, with a target rate of 6 blobs per block.

About 7,150 Ethereum blocks per day x 6 blobs per block x 7 days = 300,300 blobs available per week

The Base blockchain has been consuming about one-third of the available capacity, with approximately 50,000 to 60,000 blobs consumed weekly. Taiko is another major consumer of blobs, regularly consuming 20,000 to 25,000 blobs each week. In addition, both World Chain and Arbitrum consume between 10,000 and 20,000 blobs weekly.

Assuming these four L2s do not start releasing more data, their current blob consumption will account for about 30-40% of Ethereum's blob capacity after Pectra.

What will happen next?

Undeniably, the introduction of Rollup can significantly improve the Ethereum ecosystem, bringing higher throughput, more teams, more applications, and more users. However, it is well known that Pectra is merely a stopgap. Currently, these incremental improvements are undergoing necessary adjustments to enhance throughput and support more Rollups, yet the market seems ready to digest all the Blobs that Ethereum can produce.

Complete Danksharding will once again provide more capacity improvements, including the introduction of Data Availability Sampling (DAS), enabling end users to verify data availability from edge devices.

However, if we take a broader perspective, such as the blobscriptions craze, or a popular airdrop on a certain L2 layer causing unrelated network interruptions and congestion, then we still have a long way to go to achieve the throughput required to support a new global financial system.