Anonymous blockchain analyst polynya.eth shares comparative research of swap fees across mainstream L1s, L2s and some DeFi protocols
High transaction fees must be considered one of the most dangerous bottlenecks in the global DeFi ecosystem. During times of network congestion, they can cripple dApps and make trading unprofitable.
Cardano (ADA) remains most expensive platform outside Ethereum (ETH)
Polynya.eth (@epolynya in Twitter) took a number of Layer 1 platforms (Ethereum, Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain, Cardano) and Layer 2 scalability solutions for Ethereum (Optimism, Arbitrum) to figure out which one is the most cost-efficient right now.
It looks like next-gen smart contract platforms can offer very low fees, when it comes to simple trades. For example, Polygon (MATIC) charges users a fee of $0.006, while Solana (SOL) can trade assets with three times lower fees.
Terra (LUNA) and Fantom (FTM), the most overhyped dApps hosting platforms of Q1, 2022, charge their transactions with $0.09 and $0.02 fees, respectively.
Ethereum “classic” killers BSC (now BNB Chain) and Avalanche offer commissions of $0.37 and $0.39 for asset swaps.
By contrast, Cardano’s fees are still over $2, @epolynya adds in comments. This makes the largest proof-of-stake (PoS) network the most expensive blockchain for dApps outside Ethereum (ETH).
What does it mean?
But the most interesting result of this research is the impressive progression of second layer solutions for Ethereum (ETH) based on rollups. This technology greatly reduces the transactional pressure on the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet by processing certain data off-chain.
zkSync technology allows users to swap assets with a $0.1 fee, while Optimism with integrated ZipSwap charges $0.15 for a swap operation. This result looks revolutionary as:
In short: rollups are already as cheap as alt-L1s, overall. With more activity they will become cheaper, and with optimizations even cheaper.
Also, the analyst adds that both Optimism and Arbitrum have major upgrades pending. The upcoming advances might make their fees up to 10 times lower than today.
