Base says it will support EIP-4844 from 'day 1' following Dencun upgrade

The team at Ethereum Layer 2 Base stated it will provide support for the upcoming Dencun upgrade from day 1 — including the much-anticipated EIP-4844 — aiming to reduce fees on the network.

The implementation of Dencun on Ethereum is expected to significantly lower fees for users of Layer 2s. Estimates from Base suggest a reduction of over ten times, particularly benefiting rollups.

Slated for March 13, the Dencun upgrade will introduce changes that enhance data availability. This upgrade on the mainnet will be closely followed by the Ecotone OP Stack upgrade, which is set to extend its benefits to the Optimism Superchain ecosystem, of which Base is a part, along with others like Mode, Zora, Aevo and Fraxtal.

"Base will have Day 1 support for the Dencun upgrade, which is expected to drive down fees for users by 10-100x through increased data availability for rollups," it wrote. 

EIP-4844 introduces a novel concept of “blobs” within Layer 1 blocks. These blobs are designed to be an additive feature, increasing Ethereum’s data availability without impacting the existing infrastructure, resulting in cheaper transactions across Layer 2s. An independent fee market for blobs ensures that costs remain low, even during periods of high network congestion.

The team also noted that the upgrade would help make transactions faster and cheaper, thereby making decentralized applications in areas like on-chain gaming and limit order book exchanges more accessible. Meanwhile, other Layer 2 projects including Polygon, zkSync and Arbitrum have made similar projections related to reduced fees after Dencun.