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Dencun and EIP-4844 (March 2024)

Blob space.

Proto-danksharding

Dencun activated at epoch 269,568 on March 13, 2024. Its centerpiece EIP-4844 added blob-carrying transactions: each blob is 128 KB of data that the consensus layer stores for about 18 days, enough for rollup fraud and validity proofs.

A separate fee market

Blobs have their own base fee with a target of 3 and maximum of 6 blobs per block. The blob base fee adjusts exponentially, similar to EIP-1559, so it stayed at 1 wei for long periods when demand was below target.

L2 fees collapse

Average fees on Optimism, Arbitrum and Base fell from roughly $0.20–$0.50 to a few cents or less. Base in particular saw daily transactions surge, aided by memecoins and Farcaster frames.

Effect on ETH supply

Because rollups paid far less to L1, base fee burn fell, and ETH supply growth turned positive in 2024. Critics argued L2s paid too little; supporters said cheap data was the point.

Next steps

The Pectra upgrade raised the blob target to 6 and maximum to 9. Full danksharding with data availability sampling remains on the roadmap, aiming for many more blobs per slot.

By the numbers

For Dencun and EIP-4844, the reference figures are date of March 13, 2024, eip of 4844, blobs of 128 KB, l2 fees of ~95% lower. The comparison table below lines up parameter, dencun value — Blob size: 128 KB; Target / max blobs: 3 / 6; Retention: ~4,096 epochs (~18 days); Activation: Mar 13, 2024.

Modeling Dencun and EIP-4844 with the L2 Rollup Blob Fee Comparator

The L2 Rollup Blob Fee Comparator takes three inputs — Tx count, L1 fee ($), L2 fee ($). Savings = txs × (L1 fee − L2 fee). With its default inputs (Tx count = 100; L1 fee ($) = 2.5; L2 fee ($) = 0.02) it returns 248 $; swap in the figures from Dencun and EIP-4844 above to reproduce the scenario yourself.

Modeling Dencun and EIP-4844 with the Ethereum EIP1559 Gwei To USD Calculator

The Ethereum EIP1559 Gwei To USD Calculator takes three inputs — Gas used, Base+tip (gwei), ETH price ($). Fee = gas × gwei × 1e-9 × ETH price. With its default inputs (Gas used = 21000; Base+tip (gwei) = 20; ETH price ($) = 3000) it returns 1.26 $; swap in the figures from Dencun and EIP-4844 above to reproduce the scenario yourself.

Data Table

For educational and informational purposes only. Not financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Figures are approximate and historical; crypto assets are volatile and you may lose capital. Do your own research.