Rapid Insights: The Effects of Dencun Upgrade on Layer 2 Blockchains

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade went live as of epoch 269568 on March 13, 2024. This upgrade introduced data blobs, a cheaper way to post transaction data for Layer 2s (L2s) that have typically been using the calldata method. Shortly after the upgrade, we began seeing the use of data blobs by L2s.

Data blob usage saw an uptick after its deployment and has quickly stabilized. On average, Starknet has been the largest user of data blobs, averaging 133 blobs per hour. Base, the second largest user, is only half of that, at an average of 64 blobs per hour. We will likely see more L2s utilizing data blobs over time, such as Blast and Polygon zkEVM since data blobs offer significant cost savings.