Ethereum Revenue Drops 44%, Average Gas Fee Drops 88%

Ethereum network revenue from gas fees was $2.4 billion in Q1 2022, down 44% from $4.34 billion in Q4 2021, while 87% of revenue, or ETH tokens worth about US$2.1 billion were burned.

Ethereum is the most widely used smart contract blockchain in the world, and in 2021 it has experienced a sharp rise in gas fees (transaction fees) due to the growing popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized finance (DeFi).

In August, the Ethereum network implemented its EIP-1559 update during the London hard fork, replacing the previous auction-based transaction fee structure with a base fee that is now being burned or destroyed.

The average network gas fee decreased by more than 88% to $2.98 in the first quarter of 2022 from $26.89 in the fourth quarter of 2021. Ethereum’s inflation rate, which tracks the change in token supply, dropped to 0.51% in the first quarter from 1.10% in the first quarter of 2021. The average number of daily addresses interacting with Ethereum increased by 4% in the first quarter year on year, while the number of Ethereum staked rose to 10.9 million ETH, which is 111% more than 5.2 million ETH last year .

Ethereum decentralized exchange (DEX) spot market volumes rose to $3.9 trillion in the quarter, up 667% from $513.4 billion a year earlier, while perpetual DEX volumes were $209.1 billion. which is 2704% more than last year.

The Ethereum NFT market size rose to $116.4 billion in the first quarter, up more than 19,000% from $606.3 million in the three months a year earlier.