Ethereum Gas Fees Drop to Unusually Low Levels After 2021 Booms

Ethereum gas fees, once a notorious pain point for users during the 2021 DeFi and NFT booms, have recently dropped to unusually low levels.

The price of Ethereum gas, once a subject of heated discussion among crypto users during the 2021 DeFi and NFT booms, has dropped to unusually low levels in recent times.

As of February 26, 2025, the cost of a simple transfer on Ethereum’s mainnet has fallen to as little as $0.67. This occurs as several Layer 2 solutions are returning lower volumes of transactions to the main chain, despite handling a greater number of transactions overall.

The implication of this is that there is less demand for limited space in a block, which in turn keeps gas fees low.

The average rate of network fees over the past year has peaked at $35.5M on March 5, 2024, the highest level of the year. However, just by this week, the network fees went down significantly to $12.6M.

This is a result of L2s returning low fees to Ethereum’s mainnet. Several criticisms about L2 returning low fee claimed Optimism paid just $14,000 to L1 in Q3 2024 while collecting $2.9 million in sequencer fees—a ratio showing L2s retain most revenue, remitting only about 0.5% to L1.

Are Layer 2s Still Necessary When Gas Fees Are This Low?

Currently, Ethereum gas fees are super cheap and sometimes under $1 for a transaction. Layer 2s like Arbitrum and Optimism were built to fix high fees and slow speeds by handling transactions off the main Ethereum chain. They worked: fees dropped because L2s took the pressure off. But with mainnet fees already so low, you might wonder—do we still need L2s?

This advantage is not as significant for basic tasks, as Ethereum can be used directly without incurring significant costs. However, L2s continue to be valuable for heavy users such as DeFi traders or NFT minters, where the need for fast and inexpensive transactions is paramount. So, while L2s aren’t as critical for everyone when fees are low, they’re still handy for keeping Ethereum scalable and speedy for the big players.

Lack Of Trends To Drive Activity: Ethereum Vs. Solana

Compare this to Solana, which has seen successive waves of meme coin trends in 2024 and 2025, fueling network activity and revenue (e.g., $123.2M in monthly fees on February 26, 2025).

This is in contrast to Ethereum, which has seen a decline in activity due to the lack of a "big new trend" or popular application to engage users. While there was a surge in activity during the 2021 DeFi and NFT booms, that enthusiasm has since dampened.

On the other hand, Solana has witnessed a hype from $TRUMP, which helps boost the performance of the overall network. On the day it debuted, Solana's price surged by 19.10%, reaching a monthly high of $295.34 on January 19. Over the course of the week, it saw a 33.1% increase, highlighting the strong correlation between meme coin launches and the performance of Solana.

On the contrary, Ethereum doesn’t have a big new trend or popular app to boost activity like Solana. The DeFi craze has died down, NFTs aren’t as hyped anymore, and nothing new has come along to replace them. Thus, without any key players, transactions have slowed, and gas fees have dropped as a result.

A Sluggish Market Keeps Ethereum Stagnant

The overall crypto market slowdown is also a factor. Ethereum got a boost from ETF approvals and the Dencun upgrade, but by 2025, enthusiasm has faded.

As the market adjusts to a new phase, we can expect to see how this will affect the price trends and trading activity in the upcoming months.