The current state of the Ethereum Blob market after the Pectra upgrade: L2 costs plummet, Node pressure rises.

Author | Zack Pokorny

Compiled by | GaryMa Wu on Blockchain

Original link:

On May 7, 2025, the Pectra upgrade of Ethereum went live on the mainnet. Among the series of Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) implemented during this upgrade is the increase in the target and maximum number of blobs per block proposed in EIP-7691. Blobs were introduced through EIP-4844 (proto-danksharding) in last year's Dencun upgrade to provide a dedicated data publishing space for rollups. Since the launch of Dencun, the network has maintained a target number of 3 blobs per block and a maximum of 6; each blob is 128kb, which equates to approximately 5.5GB of data capacity provided daily through blobs. After Pectra, the target and maximum number of blobs per block increased to 6 and 9 respectively, raising the blob data capacity to about 8.15GB per day. This change impacts the blob market, rollups, and Ethereum validators, as the decrease in the scarcity of blob space reduces competitive pressure among rollups while increasing the network's data availability (DA) capacity through blobs. The following will explore the implications of the changes to Ethereum's blob parameters brought about by Pectra on the blob market, rollups and their users, Ethereum validators, and the supply of ETH.

Key Points Summary

● In the five full trading days after the launch on Pectra, the number of blobs purchased daily by rollup increased from about 21,200 to 25,600. Nevertheless, the average number of blobs per block is still 33% lower than the new target value of 6.

● Due to the actual number of blobs per block being far lower than the updated target value, blobs have once again become almost free, marking the first occurrence of this since mid-April 2025. The fees that rollups pay for blobs each day are less than one-thousandth of a cent, and the total paid since the launch of Pectra is only four-thousandths of a cent. This significantly reduces the amount of ETH that rollups burn for data space usage and for publishing on Ethereum.

● Nodes must retain rollup blob data for at least 18 days before it can be removed from the device. The increase in the daily number of blob purchases has led to a new high in the amount of data that consensus layer nodes need to retain before performing data pruning, estimated at 44.6GB.

● The reduction in blob costs has increased the profit margins of rollups (both relatively and absolutely), with Base benefiting the most in terms of net income after deducting on-chain costs. Nevertheless, since the launch of Pectra, the transaction costs of some mainstream rollups have remained unchanged or even slightly increased.

● All data used comes from the public dashboard of Galaxy Research concerning the Ethereum blob market and its impact on rollups.

Blob Market

Since Pectra went live on May 7, 2025, the number of blobs purchased daily by rollup has increased by 20.8% compared to before the upgrade. In the 60 days prior to Pectra, rollup purchased an average of 21,200 blobs per day. In the five full trading days after the upgrade, the average daily purchase increased to 25,600 blobs. The corresponding daily data capacity increased from 2.7GB before the upgrade to the current 3.3GB.

Although the purchase volume of blobs has increased, only two-thirds of the new target value blob quantity has been used on average daily since the launch of Pectra. Therefore, while the average blob usage rate before Pectra was consistent with the target, the rollup has not yet reached the new demand level to continuously achieve the new target rate.

As a result, blobs have once again become almost free, as each block only uses two-thirds of the target blob amount. This is the first time blobs have become so cheap since mid-April 2025. Since the launch of Pectra, the median price per blob has only been $0.00000000035 (9 zeros). This means that the rollup pays a maximum of $0.0000092 per day, with a total blob cost of only $0.0000395. In other words, the rollup pays less than a thousandth of a cent each day, totaling no more than a four-thousandth of a cent. Please note that this fee does not include the type-3 transaction fees required to execute a blob on-chain, only the cost of the blob itself.

In the 60 days prior to Pectra, the rollup averaged daily blob fees of $16,250, totaling approximately $1,095,000. This fee has decreased by nearly 100%.

Data capacity and impact on Ethereum nodes

After the implementation of Pectra, a larger proportion of the total data capacity provided by Ethereum through blobs remains unsold each day. Therefore, although rollups have purchased more blobs and more data space, the relative usage ratio of the daily total capacity is lower. Once the rollup demand reaches a new target level, the blob market will operate more efficiently in terms of capacity, as the new target rate is only 33% lower than the maximum, compared to 50% under the old parameters.

Ethereum generates approximately 7,100 blocks daily, with each block capable of containing up to 9 blobs, indicating a maximum daily blob capacity of about 8.17GB and a target value of 5.45GB; this value fluctuates with the actual number of blocks. However, currently, only 3.3GB of data space has been purchased, which accounts for 40% of the maximum daily capacity and 61% of the target capacity. In comparison, in the month prior to Pectra, an average of 50% of the total capacity and 99% of the target capacity was purchased daily.

Each blob can hold up to 128KB of data. The rollup does not have to use the full 128KB (for example, using 100KB is also acceptable), but a single blob cannot exceed this limit. The difference between the blob capacity purchase amount (green line on the chart) and the actual usage amount (red line on the chart) shows the gap between the actual data filled by the rollup each day and the limit. The average fill rate after the Pectra blob is 86%, while it was 82% in the 60 days prior to the upgrade.

The daily increase in the amount of blob data purchased requires consensus layer nodes to store more rollup data. Nodes must retain this data for at least 18 days before it can be deleted. Before Pectra, this meant that nodes had to keep between 40GB and 44GB of data. In the days following Pectra, this value continued to rise, reaching a historic high of 44.6GB by May 12, 2025. If the current blob demand continues, nodes are expected to need to store about 60GB of rollup data; if the target rate is reached, they may need to store around 95GB to 100GB.

Rollup cost and ETH burn

Since the launch of Pectra, the rollup has spent an average of $11,015 per day on blob-related costs (including blob objects and type-3 execution layer transaction fees), down from $20,660 in the 60 days prior to the upgrade, a decrease of 51%.

The sharp increase in Ethereum L1 transaction fees has kept the costs of rollups in blob activities at a certain level. Within a week of Pectra's launch, the Ethereum L1 base fee rose by over 650%. Without this surge, the cost of executing blobs via rollups would have been lower, and the amount of ETH burned through blob activities would have also been less.

The amount of ETH burned during data publishing activities through blobs (including the cost of purchasing blobs and the expenses incurred from executing type-3 transactions) has significantly decreased after the launch of Pectra. In the 60 days prior to the upgrade, an average of 11.22 ETH was burned daily, with only 37.1% coming from execution layer fees. After the upgrade, an average of 3.26 ETH is burned daily (a decrease of 71%), with 99.99% coming from execution layer base fees.

Impact on L2

After deducting on-chain costs, the relative and absolute profit margins of rollups have mostly improved. Linea and Base exhibit the strongest profit margins among the observed rollups, with seven-day moving averages of 98.86% and 98.54%, respectively. Blast shows the most significant improvement in profit margins after on-chain costs, rising from over 50% a few days ago to currently above 80%.

After the on-chain costs, the net income obtained by the rollups has increased after Pectra, due to factors including the decrease in data costs and the rise in activity and transaction fees. The income and net profit of each rollup have at least doubled, with Base generating the most absolute revenue, earning $1.22 million under current market conditions, and netting $1.12 million after on-chain costs.

Conclusion

The rollup has not fully utilized the Ethereum data availability scaling provided by Pectra. Therefore, it has reduced the fees that rollups pay daily for blob DA activities. This upgrade currently provides a more favorable financial environment for rollups while also increasing the number of blobs used daily. Pectra's adjustments to Ethereum blob parameters also raise a key issue: nodes must bear more pressure for storing blob data. As Ethereum expands its blob DA, node operators need to take on more data storage responsibilities.