Ethereum On-Chain Activity Declines, Network Fees Reach Five-Year Low

According to the latest report from on-chain analysis platform Santiment, the average transaction fee on Ethereum has dropped to its lowest level since May 2020 due to a slowdown in blockchain activity.

Market Watch, Price Under Pressure

In an article published on April 17, Santiment’s Marketing Director Brian Quinlivan noted that the average transaction fee for Ethereum is currently around $0.168, closely related to the recent decline in on-chain activity. Brian Quinlivan explained:
From a transaction perspective, low fees do not necessarily indicate that the price has bottomed out, as traders are still waiting to see how overall economic and geopolitical uncertainties play out, and have yet to return to previous levels of active trading. According to data from CoinGecko, Ether (ETH) has fallen by more than 12.5% in the past 14 days and is currently consolidating around $1,600, with no significant fluctuations in the past 24 hours.

Pectra Upgrade Coming Soon

The highly anticipated Ethereum Pectra mainnet upgrade has been delayed due to configuration errors that arose during the testnet launch process and interference from unknown attackers, but it has now been confirmed to officially go live on May 7.
The name “Pectra” combines the execution layer’s “Prague” upgrade and the consensus layer’s “Electra” upgrade, aiming to advance account abstraction, increase staking limits, and enhance the blob capacity limits to strengthen Rollup performance, among other features. Reference source: Related news: “Ethereum Founder Vitalik Hints at Accelerated Future Hard Fork Upgrades.”