Just FYI, the merge will not lower tx cost. Maybe even increase is with all the added hype
https://ethereum.org/en/eth2/merge/
It’s important to remember that initially, the Beacon Chain shipped separately from Mainnet - the chain we use today. Ethereum Mainnet continues to be secured by proof-of-work, even while the Beacon Chain runs in parallel using proof-of-stake. The merge is when these two systems finally come together.
PoS will stabilize transaction fees since there will be no computational complexity involved in the blockchain operation. The validator fees will be paid in ETH measured in GWEI and fluctuate. However, the fees should be lower overall due to the increase in network transaction speed as well as lack of competition for block space.
In the past, I’ve used the Steem blockchain which is also consensus PoS. The transaction fee on Steem is always exactly the same for each interaction of the blockchain… paid in STEEM, of course. So… as the price of STEEM rises in relation to fiat, the fiat cost of a given transaction increases. But the fee in STEEM is the same no matter the relational fiat price.
From what I’ve read, Ethereum 2.0 fees will operate in a similar way after The Merge. If so, then a given transaction may run 10 GWEI today and 11 GWEI tomorrow… rather than 10 GWEI at 10:00 AM and 150 GWEI at 10:01 AM.
Where is that from? Some months back I read about maybe a small increase (15 to ~17), but that is not changing much.
The merge wont change the fee structure, it’s just changing the underlying consensus
You are correct in the precise statement that The Merge will be a “simple” transition from PoW to PoS …
But once The Merge has been completed, sharding will follow on quickly…
This is Vitalik Buterin April 2021:
https://youtu.be/7ggwLccuN5s?t=634
And October 15th 2021…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhOxOMpAJSk
For an example of the fee structure going forward… start with this timestamped link of the above video:
https://youtu.be/vhOxOMpAJSk?t=710
“$2.00 today (on L2), to $0.25 tomorrow, to $0.02 in 2 years when sharding is complete and stable”
So, the discussion of high fees should have a lifetime of about 2 years from now. Buterin specifically calls out zkSync as doing things “correctly” for roll-ups. So, I’ll trust him on this one.
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