Briefing
The collapse of the Ethereum Base Gas Fee to multi-year lows signals a dramatic and structural shift in network economics. This ultra-low utilization environment has effectively neutralized the EIP-1559 burn mechanism, causing the network’s net issuance to flip from deflationary to temporarily inflationary. This outcome suggests Layer-2 scaling solutions have successfully absorbed a massive portion of user demand, creating a period of exceptionally cheap Layer-1 block space. The most important data point confirming this thesis is the recent observation of ETH supply growing by approximately 13,400 ETH in a single week due to the near-zero base fee.
Context
The common market uncertainty is whether Ethereum’s scaling strategy can maintain low transaction costs without sacrificing the network’s long-term monetary policy. Many users wonder if the Dencun upgrade was too successful, driving down the cost of using the main chain so much that it impacts the core economic model. This data helps answer the question of what happens to the ETH supply when network activity is routed to Layer-2s.
Analysis
The key metric here is the Ethereum Base Gas Fee , which is the minimum price required to include a transaction in a block. Under the EIP-1559 mechanism, this fee is burned (destroyed) and adjusted dynamically based on network congestion. When the network is busy, the fee rises, and more ETH is burned, leading to a deflationary supply. The observed pattern is a sustained, multi-month drop in the Base Fee to levels consistently below 0.1 Gwei.
This pattern is a direct result of the Dencun upgrade, which made Layer-2 transactions significantly cheaper, siphoning off demand from the main chain. When the Base Fee is this low, the amount of ETH burned is negligible, allowing the standard issuance to stakers to outpace the burn, thus causing the total ETH supply to temporarily increase.
Parameters
- Base Gas Fee ∞ Consistently below 0.1 Gwei, the lowest sustained level since 2019, which is the minimum transaction price that is burned.
- Net Supply Change ∞ An estimated growth of 13,400 ETH in a recent week, confirming the temporary inflationary flip.
- Upgrade Impact ∞ The Dencun upgrade, which reduced the cost of Layer-2 data, is the primary driver of the demand shift.
Outlook
This low-cost environment presents a strategic window for on-chain rebalancing, new dApp deployment, and large-scale transfers before the next market activity spike. The near-term future suggests the inflationary period will continue until a major surge in Layer-1 demand occurs. A key confirming signal to watch is the daily ETH burn rate ∞ if it remains near zero despite a price rally, it confirms the structural demand shift to Layer-2s is permanent. A counter-signal would be a sudden, sustained spike in the Base Fee back above 5 Gwei, which would signal a return of high-value activity to the main chain.
Verdict
Ethereum’s successful scaling has temporarily shifted its monetary policy, making the supply inflationary until Layer-1 demand returns or a new burn mechanism is introduced.
