Ethereum network gas fees that averaged $15.13 on September 2 have been declining in the past four days ending the day at $3.43, according to Token View charts. At that cost, ethereum fees are still ahead of those on the Bitcoin network that averaged $2.75 on September 6. The highest average daily fee on the Bitcoin network of $5.31 was recorded on September 4.
In the meantime, the Token View charts also seem to support the notion that the start of the Defi boom coincided with the spike in Ethereum gas fees. For example, between early June and July 19, daily average gas fees stayed under one dollar with the exception of June 6 when they topped $4.11. However, from July 20 onwards, the daily gas fee has averaged more than a dollar and is unlikely to return to levels below that anytime soon.
Despite Ethereum network fees consistently outpacing those on the Bitcoin network, supporters of ETH are not overly concerned. Justin Bons, founder and fund manager at Cyber Capital, believes higher gas fees can be solved, while those of the Bitcoin network cannot.
In a tweet on September 6, Bons makes his case by arguing that “there is a big difference between the high fees of BTC [and] ETH.”
Bons explains his reasons as follows:
The big difference is that ETH is already at 6x the capacity of BTC with the intent to scale on-chain as much as possible, unlike BTC. ETH high fees are a problem to be solved, BTC high fees are its intended design.
Bons was asked by another Twitter user why anyone would buy “something with a problem that has to be solved versus others that already have low fees.”
In his response, Bons talks of the network effect and claims that “if ETH does not scale more in time it will lose this network effect to more competitive protocols.”
The fund manager adds that ETH has a roadmap unlike competitors and that makes him “think that continued ETH dominance is plausible. It could get overtaken but that is not happening now.”
While Bons defends the high gas fees some organizations are contemplating leaving the network as a result. Ethereum developers and supporters insist the much delayed 2.0 upgrade will be the panacea to the network’s challenges.
Can ETH gas fees return to below $1? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.