The Ethereum gas fee insanity has not abated despite a 22% correction in ETH prices. With a new all-time high in gas fees today, the 24-hour ‘revenue’ figure for the network is very close to $50 million.
According to Cryptofees.info the number in daily fees generated by Ethereum is a monumental $49.55 million at the time of writing and likely to top $50m in the next few hours.
Bitcoin by comparison has generated just $8.9 million in terms of daily fees. The top two Ethereum based decentralized exchanges, Uniswap and SushiSwap, are third and fourth in the fees list with $5.3 million and $3.7 million respectively.
The EIP-1559 upgrade will alleviate some of this gas price insanity though miners are not happy about it as it will eat into their epic revenue stream.
Ethereum miners are currently earning record incomes and those could be in jeopardy when EIP-1559 rolls out in July if all goes to plan. The proposal will adjust the current auction system for bidding for transactions and allow fees to be generated dynamically on-chain which should lower them for the average user.
Furthermore, those fees will be burnt which means miners earning less, but better news for ETH holders as it reduces supply and issuance over time. Speaking on Chinese social media, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggested that a move to proof-of-stake would happen quicker if miners decided to threaten the network.
Gas prices are currently $38 on average according to Bitinfocharts.com, an increase of over a thousand percent since the beginning of 2021. Fees vary for basic ERC-20 transactions, Uniswap actions, and complex smart contract calls which can cost hundreds of dollars.
Etherscan is reporting around $18 for a basic transaction, $47 for a Uniswap swap, and as much as $70 to add or remove liquidity from one of its pools.
One unfortunate DeFi user got stung around $37,000, or almost 25 ETH, when they mistakenly inputted the gwei price for the Uniswap transaction twice. 500 or 801 gwei became 500,801 for the heavy-handed user that no doubt is feeling the pain now for paying one of the most expensive transactions ever.
Ethereum prices meanwhile have gained a little with 1.5% on the day taking them back over $1,600 at the time of press.