Ethereum Layer 2s Soar to New High in L1 Publishing Costs, Crossing $16M

May proved to be an important month for Ethereum’s Layer 2 networks as the cost of publishing data and security proofs back to the main Ethereum network rose to a new all-time high of 9000 Ether (ETH), equivalent to $16.2 million, even with a few more days in the month.

This development marks a fivefold increase over the total fees paid by L2s in January 2023, according to data from The Block.

In the Layer 2 landscape, Arbitrum emerged as the top contributor in mainnet publishing costs, with fees of 4260 ETH, or approximately $7.6 million. Meanwhile, zkSync’s Era mainnet, a product of ZK-Rollup technology, followed closely with 2250 ETH, equivalent to $4 million, securing its second position.

Notably, zkSync surpassed Era Optimism, another well-known Layer 2 solution, in performance for the first time. It is noteworthy that since last year, Optimism has consistently held a top two position in terms of fee collection. The recently observed fee structure represents another spike in Layer 1 publishing costs for all three of the most widely used L2 networks.

This spike in data charges has been attributed to rising transaction fees on the Ethereum mainnet during the month. “The fees paid by L2s for publishing data to Ethereum have already reached a new high in May. The increase in gas costs that we’ve seen has made publishing more expensive,” noted Rebecca Stevens, research analyst at The Block.

In May, Ethereum’s average transaction fees reached last year’s levels. In this context, Layer 2 solutions based on rollup technologies are particularly useful. They process transactions from the main Ethereum blockchain, providing a more affordable method of transacting.

These roll-ups are required to publish security proofs and other metadata to the Ethereum mainnet, using revenue from user transaction fees. However, the publishing costs incurred would still be significantly cheaper compared to the mainnet.

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